Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: What Came After
by C. Pariah
Summary: When a human girl is thrust into the world of Pokémon as an Eevee, will she and her new friends figure out the truth of what led up to her fateful awakening?
1. Eevee Was Here

_Plink.  
_  
A single water-drop had descended to an unknown spot on the ground.

 _Plink.  
_  
All she saw was pitch black darkness, with no indication of where she could be.

 _Plink.  
_  
The drops followed an exact, rhythmic pattern.

She tried to get up, only to fall back over. It was during this that she realized how different her body felt.

"Hello?" she asked. But there was no reply in this mysterious, cold area.

 _'What happened to my voice?'_ she pondered. Maybe she was just imagining it, but her voice definitely sounded different.

She was trying to piece together exactly what was going on. But a conclusion eluded her.

"Where am I?" Again, no response. "Help me, please! I don't know where I am!"

She was alone. Her form felt different and she hadn't the slightest clue where or what this place was.

She panicked as the paranoia weighed down upon her. "Please! Help me! HELP ME!"

"Hey, did you hear that?"

It was then that the stomachache she had gotten from worrying suddenly dissipated with hope. "I'm over here!" she called, in reply to the male voice.

"Hear what?" asked another male but somewhat deeper voice.

"It sounded like it came from over that way," replied the previous voice.

The sound of steps drew closer. "Are you in here?" asked the deeper voice.

"Yes!" she called, her head whipping around to face the direction the voice had come from.

"We're gonna get you out," said the voice.

"You will? Thank you, THANK YOU!" she cried in sheer joy.

"But first, we need you to stand back as far away as possible."

"Got it!" She still hadn't figured out what was going on with her body… maybe she was just imagining it felt different because of the complete absence of light to the degree that having her eyes open or closed made no discernible difference. Nonetheless, she crawled across the floor until she felt a wall, and then touched it to be sure it was the end. "Okay, ready!"

She heard a noise that sounded vaguely like an airplane landing, only this noise was increasing in pitch until it was finally cut off by a _bang_ noise, followed by the sound of rocks crumbling and falling. She cringed as her dilated pupils were abruptly exposed to the light that suddenly shone through, revealing a pile of rocks beneath the open space, as well as lighting up the place to reveal that she was in some sort of cave, and that she had been stuck inside a secluded area, until the rocks sealing off the opening could be dislodged. There was another, albeit shorter, build-up noise to another, albeit less powerful, _bang_ noise, before more of the rocks fell. The remainder of the now-smaller pile was pushed away to reveal two creatures she recognized as a Riolu and a Popplio, the former of which was holding a burning torch to illuminate the cave.

"Nice Focus Blast, Riolu!" remarked the Popplio, in the same higher-pitched voice from before their appearances had been revealed.

"Thanks," the Riolu acknowledged casually, in the deeper voice. He then turned his attention to the previously-trapped subject. "Are you okay?"

This only caused her to gasp in fright and jump back a bit. "You talked?!"

"Well… yes? What, did I offend you somehow?"

"Okay… talking Pokémon… now I know for sure none of this is real… this is just a REALLY bad hangover…" She put a hand to her head… except it wasn't a hand, as seeing it in front of her would reveal. It was a paw; the padding a fleshy pink color with the coating of brown fur around it. She looked at both of the new replacements for her hands, then felt two things on her head and pulled one of them down in front of her face to look at – it was a long, pointy ear that bore resemblance to two edges of a circle put together. She bowed her head down past the cream-colored collar on her chest and looked underneath her torso, then got back up and turned her head around to look at a teardrop-shaped tail, brown like the rest of her fur with a tip the same cream color as her collar.

"But… HOW?! Why am I an EEVEE?! I'm supposed to be a HUMAN!" she shrieked.

The Riolu folded his arms with a look of unprecedented resignation. "Wonderful… our first client turned out to be a lunatic."

The Eevee looked up in fury. "I am NOT crazy! I'm actually a human being! And my voice is supposed to sound different!" she protested, taking off the red bracelet that she didn't remember putting on her wrist.

"Right… come on, Eevee, let's get you back to–"

"I have a name! My name is Alesia!" Riolu clearly wasn't helping out with her mood.

"Well, Alesia, just because you have a different name doesn't mean–"

"I believe you!"

The Popplio had said that. Alesia paused as the rage subsided from her face. "You… you do?"

"Yeah!"

Riolu rolled his eyes. "Popplio, please…"

"What? Why would she lie? What's in it for her?"

Riolu knew better than to try and use conventional logic on his companion. "Let's just get you out," he told Alesia.

Popplio held out his fin for Alesia to hold. She accepted it and got up, then put her paw back down to the ground and placed one before the other. "I think I've gotten the hang of walking," she admitted.

"Great," said Riolu, although he didn't sound impressed, apparently feeling as though he didn't owe it to what he thought should have been a simple task for the Eevee.

"Great!" said Popplio, in a far more sincere and enthusiastic tone. "We'll have you out in no time!"

Riolu led them with his torch illuminating the way, as well as providing a source of heat, which the empty cave lacked. Popplio followed, and Alesia went after them, hoping they weren't all lost.


	2. Daylight Revealed

The trio weren't moving for long before they reached an abrupt turn in the direction of the cave floor. The less straight and linear the path became, the more it worried Alesia, who wasn't quite one hundred percent convinced these two talking Pokémon could get her out, but was still willing to hold onto that possibility. "So what exactly are you guys doing in here anyhow?" asked Alesia, out of a mix of piqued curiosity and a desire to break the tension. "You just doing this for fun?"

"Yeah!" agreed Popplio excitedly.

"Suppose you could put it like that," Riolu answered, not turning his vision away from directly in front of him as he lead them onward. "See, my friend here and I wanted to form a R.E.E.D. team – Rescue, Exploration, Enforcement, and Delivery – and we were checking this cave for anyone in need of help. We were just getting ready to go home when we heard you."

"You need any help getting home after we get out of here?" asked Popplio, intent on making Alesia's escort as pleasant as possible.

"Well…" Something clicked in Alesia's memory, and she took note of Riolu's status as a Sinnoh-native Pokémon. Popplio did not meet this criterion, but there was still no reason not to ask her next question when it could potentially be of assistance. Her home and some of its connections were all she could currently remember. "Do you know where Canalave City is?"

"Where what now is?"

"Canalave City! In the Sinnoh region! It runs a ferry service to go to Iron Island, or the Almia region, or–"

"No such regions," Riolu affirmed.

Popplio thought it helpful to go through a list of places in the world. "But we do have the Ice Continent, which is where we are now! And there's the Air Continent!"

"Popplio…"

"And the Water Continent!"

"Popplio…"

"And the Grass Continent!"

"Popplio…"

"And the Mist Continent!"

Riolu stopped walking and whirled around in place to face the Pokémon's name he had just said three times in a row already. "POPPLIO!"

Popplio seemed startled and remained silent, at which Riolu resumed his chat. "Honestly, lady, go see your therapist once you're out."

"What for?! I'm telling you the truth, I'm actually a human being!" Alesia snapped, veins pulsating at her temple with anger.

"Yeah, right, and I'm the king of GOLBAT!"

Alesia looked behind her at that name. But there was nothing except the rest of the cave that grew ever darker the deeper one looked into it. "What was with the emphasis on 'Golbat'? You made it sound like some were heading straight for us mid-sentence."

Riolu was wincing in pain as he lifted up his bottom right paw to reveal a small, brown, thorn-like object. "Stepped on something," he clarified as he opened Popplio's satchel and dropped the item in.

Searching for the exit, Popplio peered into a hole in the wall… but then pulled his head back. "Ow!" he cried as he yanked his head back out to reveal a Golbat had tightly bitten his nose and now wouldn't let go.

Riolu wasn't having any of that treatment toward his friend. He fired a Focus Blast, knocking the Golbat off. "Come on!" he yelled at both of the Pokémon beside him. Alesia ran after him and Popplio used his fins to scoot across the cave floor as fast as he could; which was, Alesia was surprised to discover, surprisingly fast, marginally faster than she could run.

"I see light!" Riolu called as they approached the end, signified by white light shining through. The closer they got to the end, the brighter the inside of the cave became, until they finally made it outside, feeling the hard, smooth surface beneath them come to a stop to make way for the grass of the lush plains outside.

The trees were densely-arranged, with a gap indicated by a pale orange pathway that led into said gap, with the other end directly in front of Alesia's front paws. "What is this place?"

Riolu shook his torch to put out the flame. "That's Izolo Village," he replied, applying a band-aid to Popplio's nose. "We found it and decided to set up our team base in it."

"Team base?"

"Remember what I was telling you about our R.E.E.D. team?" Riolu reminded Alesia. "Rescue, Exploration, Enforcement, and Delivery? In that order, we rescue Pokémon, explore uncharted lands, apprehend criminals, and deliver items to Pokémon waiting for them."

"Wait a sec, are you saying there are MORE Pokémon just like you?"

"Actually, we haven't found any more Riolu or Popplio here. No Eevee, either," Popplio said.

Alesia groaned and hung her head in frustration. "That's not what I meant. I meant more Pokémon that can talk just like you."

Riolu did not reply to her as promptly as he had to her previous objections to the idea of Pokémon talking and having a sapient society of their own comparable to humans, despite the fact that she herself was a talking Pokémon (who claimed that she was formerly a human, creatures that hadn't existed for tens of centuries as far as Riolu was aware). Instead, he took the time to silently craft his response.

"Alesia," he began, and took a pause of a few seconds before continuing. "I don't think you should tell anyone you used to be a human," he finished the sentence with, wording it in a way that didn't strictly imply Alesia was lying. "We don't want you getting dragged to an asylum."

Alesia might have replied with something along the lines of "There are no asylums for Pokémon!", but she considered it a fruitless exercise at this point.

"It's a scary place where they do terrible things to you!" Popplio added.

"Yeah." Riolu nodded with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. He didn't believe all asylums were necessarily as bad as Popplio's short, vague testimonial implied, but he also didn't believe they were all totally safe for those with the mental disorders necessary for admittance. If something happened to Alesia in there because Riolu had told about her claim, he'd never forgive himself. "Humans haven't existed for years now. Saying you used to be one would be a great way for everyone to think you're cuckoo."

"I wish I could tell you more about myself before this happened," Alesia said. "But what I've already said is about all I can remember."

"Let's show you around!" Popplio suggested as he pulled himself along the pathway that led into the trees, separated with just enough space for passers-through.

"Might as well," Riolu decided. Usually it was he who took the role of leader, but Popplio appeared so eager to get Alesia settled in that it seemed only right for him to have it for now. He followed the pathway his partner had taken, and Alesia again went at the back of the group.

* * *

Inside the expanse of trees was a large near-perfect circle of land, but even that wasn't the most striking feature. It wasn't a single thing that claimed that title, but rather they all formed what gave Alesia such a surprise. There were several Pokémon all together peacefully, in this area consisting of bizarre structures, most of which were made to look like the head of the Pokémon that was standing inside it for some reason, one such example being the Kangaskhan inside a booth underneath a huge Kangaskhan head sculpted into a boulder, which had also been made to look like front paws at either side. There were small, archaic-looking houses, but only barely more than the odd buildings. Another structure was made to look like the head of a Wobbuffet, but it had a hole hollowed into it to make a doorway. Still, presumably there was a Wobbuffet inside. A Kecleon-looking building with a Kecleon inside it, and a grey lump of mass detailed to look like a Ferrothorn, complete with a green-painted spike on top, and beneath that was none other than the aforementioned Grass/Steel-type… it truly was surreal.

"What are all these things for?" asked Alesia.

"That's the Kecleon shop!" Popplio pointed at the structure made in the image of its owner. "They sell items that help you in dungeons." He continued rattling off names. "That's Kangaskhan Storage, where you keep your items when they won't all fit in your bag… that's Ferrothorn Bank where you keep money–"

"YOU! THIEF!"

The gruff voice that had yelled out across the unique enclosure these Pokémon called Izolo Village caught the three of them by surprise. Alesia sharply turned around and was greeted by a Trevenant angrily approaching her. He reached her and pointed a claw at her, about five inches away from her understandably-confused and frightened expression. "YOU'RE the scoundrel who stole from my bookstore!"

"Huh? What exactly are you talking about?" Alesia couldn't have even entered his bookstore, much less stolen from it, but it wasn't like he was in any mood to hear her explanation as to why.

"Don't play dumb! You know what you did!"

Riolu scoffed. "Oh, please. As if you have any proof, you stingy old miser. What're you gonna do, take her to court?"


	3. Alesia Versus the Law

_'So this is what the Braviary house was for,'_ thought Alesia, unamused as she stood behind the defendant's table inside the village courtroom. _'Really wasn't expecting this sort of welcome...'_

The quiet murmuring amongst the courtgoers came to a halt upon being interrupted by the bang of a gavel; "All rise," commanded the Toucannon, the court deputy who had caused the interruption.

Everyone who wasn't already standing up who could do so did so.

"Izolo Village court is now in session, the Honorable Judge Braviary presiding."

As promised, a Braviary – its beak with a red cere, and its underside adorned with dull brown feathers, in contrast to the bright blue feathers on its back, despite the outside of the courthouse being made to look like a common Braviary – invited itself behind the judge's bench. "Please be seated."

Everyone capable of sitting down did so.

"He's what we call a shiny Pokémon," Popplio whispered to Alesia, just in case she didn't know. "Most Braviary are colored differently from that."

"Before we begin," Braviary addressed the room, "I will ask the courtroom deputy to administer the oath to the jurors."

Toucannon addressed the seven Bisharp to the side: "Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you under pains and penalties of perjury?"

"I do," the seven of them all said in unison.

Braviary spoke: "Jurors, you may be seated." The Bisharp jurors complied, and so Braviary continued: "Bookstore owner Trevenant accuses the defendant, an Eevee, so called Alesia, of petty theft. The plaintiff claims that Alesia intended to deprive the owner of a copy of _Precise Concise World Atlas_ valued at 3,000 Poké."

 _'Poké must be their name for money. Suppose it's not that far off from Pokédollars.'_

"At the end of the case, the jury shall vote on whether or not Alesia is guilty of petty theft. We will now commence. First, the plaintiff, Trevenant."

Trevenant cleared his throat from his desk directly to Alesia's right. "Your Honor, I think the evidence this Eevee committed the crime of theft from my bookstore is quite clear. When was the last time any of us saw an Eevee around these parts? I'd rarely seen them myself before one came to my bookstore, asked if I had any fantasy novels, then made off with an expensive atlas by the time I returned from the stock room. And now she comes back to try the same thing again!"

"OBJECTION!" echoed across the courtroom as Popplio pointed his fin at Trevenant. "It could still have been another Eevee!"

"Young Popplio," said Braviary. "In future, please wait for the judge to decide whether the objection is sustained or overruled before stating what it is."

"And only do that if the judge rules the former," added Toucannon.

"Okay… sorry, mister," Popplio apologized as he lowered his fin.

"This is still a valid point…" Braviary remarked thoughtfully, holding his gavel beneath his chin. "We will now take a witness testimony."

That was Riolu's cue. He walked up to the witness stand and got behind it. "Alesia couldn't have done it because when Popplio and I found her in Ambient Cave, she had no memory," he stated simply. "Not of how she got there or what her life is like, nothing." Having left the part about Alesia's alleged previous form as a human out of his testimony, he waved to indicate Trevenant. "I went to the bookstore yesterday to get a blank journal for me and Popplio to log our adventures in, and when I decided I didn't want the one I had and went to put it back and get a different one, this thorny jerk thought I was trying to steal it."

"Riolu, boy," Braviary interjected. "If you do not refrain from making personal attacks on other attendees of this trial, I will be forced to find you in contempt of court."

"I apologize, Your Honor," Riolu conceded, to stay on good terms with the judge rather than out of any concern for Trevenant.

"Nonetheless, thank you for your testimony," Braviary continued, at which Riolu nodded then went back next to Alesia. "We have another witness."

The Kangaskhan from Popplio's earlier introduction of Izolo Village approached the now-vacant witness stand, refilling the gap left by Riolu. "I saw an Eevee enter the bookstore and later come out with a book," she said. "But that Eevee was wearing a red bracelet. This Eevee doesn't have anything like that."

Riolu and Popplio, of course, knew that Alesia had, when they'd first seen her, had a red bracelet, and this cast a shadow of doubt into their minds (mostly Riolu's), but they still didn't maintain a total, unchangeable opinion that Alesia was responsible for the theft. And even if she was, Trevenant had kind of had it coming in Riolu's opinion.

Trevenant boiled on the inside with anger. "Well, of COURSE! Why would she keep something like that if she could have been seen with it?!"

"Again, with the 'contempt of court' thing," Toucannon reminded him. "Keep your leaves on."

Riolu, Alesia, and a few members of the audience snickered at the quip, but were able to regain an acceptable level of composure.

Braviary prepared to present what would be the end of the trial, then addressed the jurors: "Members of the jury. If Alesia is guilty, stand to the left. If she is innocent, stand to the right."

One of the Bisharp stepped out and stood between Alesia and Braviary to the former's left. "Guilty."

Alesia gulped. The tension was not broken when a second Bisharp also stood to her left and voted, "Guilty."

"Don't worry too much," Riolu whispered to her.

"Yeah!" agreed Popplio. "There are still five more!"

A third Bisharp walked into the area, and stood opposite to the first two. "Not guilty."

Alesia was somewhat relieved at that, but one vote was still less than two.

The fourth Bisharp positioned itself next to the previous one. "Not guilty."

Alesia's nerves settled down, and she became more optimistic about the outcome of the vote… at least until the fifth Bisharp said, "Guilty," and stood on the left accordingly.

Bisharp number six walked over to the right. "Not guilty."

Alesia wouldn't have been nearly so on edge if she knew a thing about the law system in this place. Would they lock her up? Or maybe hang her upside down until her eyeballs exploded? If four jurors had just voted for one side already, the trial would be over, but the zig-zagging way they had all voted was dragging out the process, and with it, her anxiety.

 _'Not guilty! I didn't do it!'_ she thought, attempting to cross her fingers but failing since she no longer had them.

The seventh and final Bisharp came and voted: "Guilty."

"Wonderful…" Alesia quietly snarled in defeat.

Braviary banged his gavel. "We have reached a verdict. This court finds Alesia guilty of petty theft of a copy of _Concise Precise World Atlas_ valued at 3,000 Poké. Alesia is ordered to repay the 3,000 Poké plus 2,000 Poké damages within one week. In light of the non-violent nature of this crime, as well as her absence of any previous offense, she is not required to stay in a holding cell. However, she may not leave Izolo Village without prior permission from the head of the village. Court adjourned."

A final bang of the gavel prompted everyone to leave, although Alesia did so rather sullenly and slowly, with Riolu and Popplio keeping at the same pace as her. "Great… what am I supposed to do now?"

Popplio had a thought. "You should come back with us!"

* * *

Alesia hadn't seen it before, but now that the two Pokémon had indicated it to her, she was looking down into somewhat deep pit dug into the earth. It had a staircase made out of logs leading down into it. At the bottom were what looked like three beds made out of straw, the perfect size for one of the three Pokémon to sleep on. Above the pit was a sheet of tarpaulin, held up by thick wooden sticks in the ground, to keep out the rain.

"Is this yours?" she asked.

"Yep!" Popplio confirmed.

"We spent nearly all of yesterday digging it," Riolu boasted. "We had enough straw left over to make a third bed for someone who wanted to join our team." He wrapped an arm around Alesia. "And thanks to you, our first mission was a success! We found this village while we were looking for somewhere to stay as a new R.E.E.D. team, and decided we might as well try Ambient Cave in case someone was in there in need of help."

"You should be part of our team!" Popplio requested eagerly. "We already made a bed, right? And if we all kept doing jobs, we could help you raise that 5,000 Poké in no time!"

"For real?" Somehow, Alesia felt more confident about doing such as things as rescuing other Pokémon than she imagined she should.

Resolve materialized in her expression and she nodded. "Okay! I'll do it!"

"Hooray!" Popplio clapped his fins in celebration. "From this day on, we'll call ourselves Team Everlasting!"

Riolu took a few moments to think the name over. They hadn't yet had any ideas for a name, but this didn't seem like an awful choice, and besides, they needed a name to be officially recognized as a R.E.E.D. team. "Okay. Team Everlasting it is!"

* * *

"Guys?" Alesia said, adjusting herself to get comfortable in the straw bed. "Why do you want to help me?" It seemed so sudden that these two who had known her for a less than a day wanted to take her under their wing.

"Because it's our job to help those in need," Riolu answered. "You don't have any memory, right? Sure would be cruel of us to turn our backs on you."

"We'd never turn our backs on you!" Popplio's words were as genuine as the beaming grin on his face. "What are friends for?"

Alesia smiled. She thought perhaps feeling warmth in her heart, as opposed to being creeped out, was the wrong response to a declaration of camaraderie in spite of the very short time she had known the duo, but she didn't care about that right now.

"Is there absolutely nothing you can remember about yourself? Even how you ended up in the cave?" Riolu persisted.

"Does your mother hang out at rockslide bars?" asked Popplio.

"Except for where I lived before, nothing at all," said Alesia, defaulting to the truth.

"Maybe we'll find out sometime," Riolu offered hopefully. "Our adventures could reveal something." He yawned and turned over. "Night, guys."

"Night!" Popplio similarly fell asleep.

Alesia was left with only the light breathing of her two new friends, who were much better at sleeping than she was, especially on a night like this where her mind was burning with questions demanding answers.

She had no choice but to stay awake with her thoughts until her body naturally grew tired, allowing her to finally drift off without realizing it.


	4. A Mutual Cause

Riolu stirred and slowly opened his eyes, mildly disappointed to be dragged out of his sleep before he felt he'd had enough of it, but reminded of the whole reason he and the other two Pokémon – one an old friend, and the other new – were here, he quickly got over it.

He nudged Popplio. "Hey, buddy, it's time to get up."

Popplio's eyes fluttered open and he yawned cutely. "Hi, Riolu…" He looked to the side to see Alesia still sleeping. He lay his fin on her and shook her lightly.

Alesia woke up, the fin brushing her as she stood up. She snappily grew alarmed, and examined herself all over. Her face faltered. She hadn't dreamt any of it; she really had gotten turned into an Eevee.

 _'And here I was hoping maybe she was just trolling us…'_ Riolu started to climb the stairs leading out of their pit. "Come on, guys, let's prepare for our first day."

* * *

"Welcome to the Kecleon Shop!" the Kecleon running said shop greeted Popplio and Alesia.

"Hi!" Popplio greeted amicably. He checked the list Riolu had given him. "Can we get three Oran Berries, a Tiny Reviver Seed, and a Blast Seed?"

Kecleon gathered the requested items and placed them on the counter. "That comes to 262 Poké!"

Popplio paid the money. "Thanks, and bye!" he excused himself and Alesia while putting the items in the satchel.

"Goodbye, and thank you for your custom!" Kecleon called after them.

"Geez, you'd expect him to be worried I might steal from his shop," Alesia remarked quietly to Popplio.

"Maybe he knows you didn't do it!" Popplio suggested cheerily.

A short time after, Riolu came out of the Braviary court house. "Okay, guys, I got the paperwork filled out, and the three of us are now all officially-recognized as a R.E.E.D. team." He was holding three peculiar-looking trinkets – a white base with a transparent four-point star rotated to the position of the letter X, with another four-point star on top of it, transparent just like the one underneath it, but rotated to the position of a plus symbol. He gave one of each to Popplio and Alesia and kept one for himself, according to the names engraved on the back of each. "Those are our badges! They enable us to communicate, and they go up in rank the more missions we complete. And a little something to help us out…" He produced three pieces of cloth and knotted one around his neck, and gave one of each to Popplio and Alesia. "A Power Band for me, a Special Band for Popplio, and a Joy Ribbon for you, Alesia."

Riolu's scarf was vermilion with a single yellow star with eight points, while Popplio's scarf was blue with a a symbol of a small circle with two rings around it, a much lighter and paler shade of blue, which appeared to be white at first glance. Alesia's garment was white with cyan polka dots. Popplio's eyes glistened, absolutely enamored with his scarf around his neck and its colors, while Alesia gave hers no more than, "Neat."

"Now let's go choose something from the bulletin board," Riolu suggested, pointing at the board with papers pinned to it.

"Hold on." Alesia had suddenly remembered something. "I can't go. Braviary said I couldn't and I don't want to get into an even bigger mess."

"Not without permission," Riolu specified. "I got that all cleared up, and it's fine for you to leave for work."

"Wait!"

Alesia, Popplio, and Riolu all heard a voice that the first two had been talking to shortly before. "You are in search of a mission?"

Kecleon scurried over, looked behind him at his stall to make sure no one was emptying the stock or the money chest, then looked back at Team Everlasting. "My brother went to Rusted Complex two days ago but hasn't returned yet. Please, you will help, will you not?"

"No worries, we'll go get him back and that'll be our first job as an official team!" Popplio promised. "Right, guys?"

Riolu smiled. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay," said Alesia unsurely, wishing she knew what Rusted Complex was.

"Oh, thank you dearly!" Kecleon gushed, and kissed Alesia on the paw and Popplio on the fin, but Riolu lifted his paw away before he could receive the same treatment.

"The 'thank you' is enough for us," Riolu told him pointedly, despite Popplio's appreciation of the gesture. Alesia, however, was suitably weirded out just like her Fighting-type teammate.

"I have a handsome reward prepared for your success!" Kecleon added, and returned to his stall.

"We ready to leave now?" asked Riolu.

"I'm up for it!" cheered Popplio.

But a thought had crossed Alesia's mind. "I don't know how to battle. How can I do anything?"

"That's true." Riolu ruminated on that for a moment. "I got it! We can go to Wobbuffet Dojo and see if the Wobbuffet inside might help train you." _'Can't help but wonder why he wasn't in court yesterday, though…'_

* * *

Inside Wobbuffet Dojo, it appeared to be empty in the main room. It had a door that led to who knew where, but it would be rude to enter uninvited.

There was no need to, because the door swung open with the arrival of… a Gallade?

"Hello?" Riolu greeted.

"Hi," said Gallade, seeing that these Pokémon were new. A pause went by before he continued: "I suppose I'd better explain things just to break any potential awkwardness. My grandfather was a Wobbuffet who owned this dojo before me, and his will prevents the name or appearance from being altered."

"...I guess that makes sense?" Alesia figured.

"Now then," Gallade addressed them, "can I help you? Do you want to train?"

"Well, I guess that's kinda right," Riolu began. "See, our new pal Alesia here," he and Popplio stepped behind Alesia, leaving her in front of them, "She doesn't know how to do any battling. We're going on a mission to Rusted Complex to go save Kecleon's brother, and we were wondering if you," although he'd had a Wobbuffet in mind before seeing Gallade, making his use of "you" not entirely accurate, "would be able to accompany us and help her out, if it's not too much trouble?"

"Sure."

Alesia seemed happy. "You will?"

"I haven't been getting many wishing to train," Gallade admitted. "That, plus this'll give me an excuse to get out for a while. You can only spend so much time in a place as small as this, y'know?"

"Then it's settled." Riolu held up his badge. "We'll all save Kecleon together!"

"Yeah! We will!" Popplio held his badge up next to Popplio's.

They both smiled at Alesia invitingly. She returned the smile and put her badge next to theirs, happy to humor them. "To Team Everlasting!"

Popplio gestured to the door. "Come on, let's go, Mr. Wobbuffet!"

"Gallade."

"Sorry."

* * *

The group set out, and as they walked, the quiet village hidden in trees seemed impossible to return to if they didn't have a trusty map.

"What's Rusted Complex?" asked Alesia, hoping at least some of them knew.

"It's an abandoned factory built by humans when they used to exist," Gallade explained. "But no one's seen them for hundreds of years."

Popplio pointed up at the sky. A flock of flying Pokémon soared high above. "They're delivering the mail!"

"What?" Alesia seemed perplexed. She quickly clarified, "I know what mail is. I just don't know why the fact that those Pokémon are there means that we're getting mail."

"Those Pelipper are based at R.E.E.D. HQ," Gallade begun as they all resumed moving. "The envelopes they're carrying in their beaks contain jobs for R.E.E.D. teams to take on. Braviary must have gotten in touch with them to say our village now needs deliveries since we have a team." He looked back down. "So, what moves do you kids have?"

Popplio beamed. "Moonblast! Water Gun!"

"Really?" Gallade seemed surprised. Alesia didn't, because, again, her memory was scrambled, meaning she wouldn't have a much of an understanding of how Pokémon moves worked.

"Riolu and I learnt some cool moves a while ago! He knows Force Palm and Focus Blast!"

"You seem to have put a lot of work into forming your own team," Gallade remarked, with respect for their dedication.

"Not me," said Alesia. "I'm new, and… I… I don't know what moves I have." She considered adding that she had amnesia, but decided to keep the details scant. She didn't exactly have loose lips about her former species, after all.

Her desire to conserve time turned out to be for the better, because the walk to their destination tired them all out, but her in particular. She had not been ready for this in the slightest. Riolu and Popplio at least had the advantage of having prepared for their work and the effort it entailed, and in Gallade's case, he was simply bigger and therefore more physically capable.

"I'm sure you can at least Tackle," Gallade pointed out. "Why don't you try it on me?" He stopped walking and spread his arms out.

Alesia halted. "Are you sure?" she asked, as Riolu and Popplio did the same and looked back at her.

"Sure. There's no better time to learn."

Alesia slowly stepped back a bit, then ran forward. She jumped into the air, reducing her momentum, as if trying to take back the jump, while turning her head to the side and closing her eyes. She felt herself collide with Gallade and fall to the ground.

Gallade shook his head in disappointment. "You're perfectly capable of doing more, but you're holding back." They all resumed their long walk, passing rocks and shrubbery. The yellow path on the ground was no longer present, but they still knew where to go thanks to the map.

* * *

By now, the grass beneath them was longer and darker. Alesia sat down, feeling she deserved a break from all that walking and the toll it had put on her poor feet. "Is this the place?" she asked, as she and Gallade followed Riolu and Popplio.

"According to the map it is." Riolu didn't initially look up from the map that had come with their team kit, but now, he folded it back up, put it back in Popplio's (one had also been included in the team kit, but Popplio did not want to get rid of the one he already had), and overlooked the new area. It appeared to be a brick building, about six stories high, represented by twelve windows in two columns on each side.

The tarnished aluminum roof hosted vines which hung down over the moss-coated walls. The pattern the windows were arranged in was completely ignored by the unpredictable placements of broken glass. What all the windows had in common, however, was that they were impossible to see through as a result of not having been cleaned for years on end.

Alesia tilted her head as she gazed upon the building. "So you're saying humans used to live in this world a long time ago, but now they don't, and they built this when they were here?" With what she knew of this Pokémon world, the construct in front of them seemed rather out of place, although it made more sense when she kept in mind the context that humans had existed several centuries before and this was a creation of theirs. She'd never thought it possible for something to look both normal and bizarre simultaneously.

With indistinct mumbling sounds, Gallade nodded. "There are apparently some places like it in the Air Continent." He was reminded of a Porygon who had come to the Ice Continent for tourism purposes, and befriended Gallade during a conversation about a hangout place from back home, which it had described as a decrepit lab of some sort.

"Are those on the map too?" Alesia asked.

"Nope," Riolu told her. "Our map is only of the Ice Continent. Now let's take a look inside."

Since the door into the factory had been designed for human use, the handle was too high for any of the three team members to open. Gallade obliged, being most suited for the job due to his height and bipedal stature. With some effort, he pulled the door slowly, and released it when there was enough space for them all to enter.

Riolu and Popplio entered, and Gallade went after them. They noticed Alesia was still outside, resting on the ground, her fur blocking the blades of grass from annoyingly tickling her skin. "Uh… aren't you going to come in?" asked Riolu, a bit condescendingly.

"I'm… well…" Alesia gulped. "The Kecleon said his brother came here but didn't come home. Doesn't that get you wondering what's inside?"

"Go home and give your badge back to Braviary if you don't want to do your job," Riolu snarked.

"No! Please don't do that!" Popplio didn't like the idea of their new friend leaving them. "We'll all battle anything and everything in there!"

Alesia looked up and rose to her feet, and hesitantly entered the disused, run-down building.

On the inside, it was, of course, suddenly much darker, the only source of light being the ajar doorway. The metallic floor felt cold beneath them, and they were nervous to even take a step for fear they might step on something sharp and possibly contaminated.

Popplio clapped his fins together. It took the lights overhead on the ceiling a fair bit of flickering, but after that, they finally turned on good and proper, illuminating the ongoing corridor. The windows were tall, narrow, and vertically rectangular. Patches of rust were on the wall with varying shapes and sizes.

"Well… that sure worked wonders…" Alesia stated unsurely, taking a few steps to the side when she heard a creaking noise above her and feared something might fall. "So are we ready to–"

Before she could finish, the chain holding a light to the ceiling snapped right above Popplio, who rolled to the side just in time to avoid it. The light was crushed by the floor putting an end to the falling object's velocity, separating the metal cone where it had been fastened by bolts and smashing the glass bulb.

Allowing the sudden gut-punch in her stomach to subside, Alesia cleared her throat. "As I was saying… are we ready to leave?"

"Yep," said Riolu. "Let's split up, gang. Popplio and I will go through that door, Alesia and Gallade can take the other one. You'll keep her safe, won't you, Gallade?"

"Of course," Gallade assured. "What kind of dojo owner would I be if I didn't?"

"If you find Kecleon, tell us using your badge." To provide an example, Riolu held the badge close to his mouth and made sure to clearly say, "Alesia." Both his and Alesia's badges suddenly started glowing. "Do you copy?" he asked, his voice audible from Alesia's badge.

"Clear!" Alesia said into her own badge, and heard it being said from Riolu's badge a few yards away.

"Good. Riolu out." The shining light from both badges faded away. "We'll meet you guys later!" Riolu entered one of the two opposing doorways and began a hike up the staircase, at which Popplio followed him.

"Listen, um," said Alesia to Gallade. "You don't need to protect me from absolutely _everything_. I'll still try to battle whatever I can." She couldn't see herself going far in this world if she didn't do anything for herself.

"Very good." Gallade nodded. "But I won't abandon you if you're in dire need of assistance."

"Thanks a bunch," Alesia replied appreciatively. "So, I guess now we take that other doorway."

* * *

In the center of the new room was a cylinder with red glass on top, opaque just like the windows on the sides of the building. Alesia guessed that operation of the machine, whatever its purpose, had been done via the control panels in the four edges of the square room, with use of the various levers and buttons.

"Wonder if there are any feral Pokémon in here," asked Gallade as he and Alesia finished ascending the stairs to enter a room just as brightly-lit as the downstairs floor.

Alesia wondered about the implications of this, and realized that this would mean that not all Pokémon in this world were on the same level of sapience as humans, and that some were just like the Pokémon back home, but of course, she had to be careful with questioning it lest she hint at her true origin. "You mean like the Golbat in Ambient Cave?"

"Yeah, like that." Gallade nodded. "They don't like their home being invaded."

 _'So that explains why they chased us out,'_ Alesia realized as she started scanning the room, far too out of scale for her now that she was an Eevee and this place had originally been constructed by humans, and spotted a gear-like object sticking out from a hole in the ceiling. "A Klinklang?"

Upon hearing its species name, the correctly-guessed Klinklang descended from the hole in the ceiling and floated toward Alesia. Ordinarily, it would have been no big deal, but in her new form, the Klinklang greatly outsized her, causing her to step back in fear.

 _'Okay, what can I do… oh, yeah! Maybe I have Swift!'_ She concentrated hard, doing what she thought Pokémon did to use this particular move, and it… actually worked. Golden outlines of stars shot out from the forcefield of energy around her, and hit the Klinklang, knocking it down.

At least for a moment. More enraged than ever, it employed a Thundershock on Alesia, who, upon being struck by the light yellow bolt, feeling as if she'd been impaled lengthwise from head to tail, flickered between being a normal opaque Eevee and having her skeleton visible to the outside as if she were being viewed through an X-ray, for a few seconds before she fell to the ground. "Owowow…"

Gallade intervened by using a Low Sweep to send the Klinklang flying into the wall. It fell down to the ground, but did not get up.

"Come on," Gallade told Alesia, ushering her to the staircase all the way over on the other side of the room. "We have to get out of here before it wakes up."

"But what about Kecleon?" asked Alesia as they went up.

"We'll search for him on the other floors, and come back if we haven't found him after that." Gallade and Alesia emerged from the other end of the staircase.

The new room seemed to be an observatory, with one of the wide, tall walls made entirely of glass. Several cabinets were propped up. It looked like this room was for watching experiments taking place outside that wouldn't have been safe to do inside, such as those involving explosives.

Alesia made the mistake of walking a little too close to the wall, and was scratched by a patch of brown rust. She winced and gave a silent, sharp exhale of pain.

She cautiously took a step forward… and was confronted by an Elekid that hastily popped out from behind a shelf.

It bowed its head down and charged at Alesia, getting her stuck in between its two horns. She shrieked and thrashed about, trying to break free of it.

"Don't help me!" she told Gallade as she attempted to maintain a shred of dignity. "I can take care of this guy!"

Gallade stood on the sidelines, watching her attempt to break free. He was perfectly willing to help, but since she had requested to be left to handle the matter herself, presumably to gain valuable experience from the ordeal that would help her fight future opponents, he stayed put. Alesia thrust her back legs into the air and sent them flying down into the Elekid's face, prompting it to grab her, yank her out of its horns, and toss her aside. She got up, her expression burning with promise of retribution, which came in the form of her charging toward it and tackling it to send it flying a few feet, and for her final act, she used a Swift, each star causing it to give a small cry of pain. It looked as though it was going to get back up, but its eyes then closed.

Noticing that this had made Alesia wince, Gallade kneeled down and checked its pulse. "Don't worry, you haven't killed it," he told her, applying a joking tone. "Nice work!"

Alesia felt proud. "Thanks!"

"Off we go! I bet you'll have no problem handling whatever's on the next floor."

She grinned as she scrambled up the stairs, newly-imbued with tenaciousness.

The next floor was small and compact, with crates littered around, some tipped over with their contents spilled all over the floor, necessitating careful steps. After the previous two floors, Alesia knew better than to assume this meant it really was unoccupied save for herself and Gallade… but even after taking a detailed glance of the room, nothing came to attack them.

Alesia wondered what could be inside the crates. She placed her rather long ear next to one, wondering if any Pokémon could be inside; if there were, they could only be small, and thus easy for her to fend off like she had done the Elekid. She heard nothing, so knocked on the side. Still absent any other sound, Alesia decided to open the box, and found… several scarves and a pair of sunglasses.

"What are these doing here?" she asked, puzzled, taking out the contents.

"Nice find!" Gallade complimented. "These are like the scarves you and your teammates have equipped. That Joy Ribbon of yours, for example."

"Do you want any?" asked Alesia. "We don't need all of them, and it was nice of you to come all the way over here with us."

"Well… alright." Gallade considered the options, and picked one out. "I'll take this Twist Band."

Just then, Alesia's badge began to glow. "Alesia! We found Kecleon!" came Riolu's voice. "Where are you?"

Alesia spent a couple seconds remembering how many staircases they had climbed, and thus what floor they were on in relation to the rest of the building. "Floor 4, counting the entrance."

"We're on Floor 5 on the side Popplio and I took."

"Okay, we'll meet you there. Alesia out." The badge stopped glowing. "The other staircase!" She and Gallade chose the staircase that led to the other side of the building.

* * *

"We're here!" Alesia announced as she ran to Riolu and Popplio, with Gallade running after her.

"You made it!" cheered Riolu. Alesia could tell that unlike Riolu's rather sarcastic "Great" yesterday when she had told him she was getting the hang of walking, his congratulations were legitimate.

"We sure did! And look what we found." She showed him the scarves and the glasses.

"An Insomniscope! Nice." Riolu took the glasses and wore them. "'Sup, baby?"

Popplio and Gallade found it quite entertaining, but Alesia begged to differ, and held her face in her paw. "Please just stop…"

"Well... okay. Guess I have to, anyway." Having reverted to his usual demeanor, Riolu removed the shades. "Multiple ability-enhancing items don't work, only one at a time. Kecleon's up there, by the way." He pointed up at a rather high, blocky steel platform, on top of which was a purple Kecleon, green where a Kecleon's default form would be yellow. The platform was inside a black pit in the ground, blocked off by railing to prevent anyone from falling in. There were balconies higher up in the room parallel to each other, and on the ground was machinery that controlled how high the platform would go. Obviously no one could see it, but at the bottom of the chasm where the platform touched the floor, rust that had built up over centuries locked the platform in its current position.

"What?" Gallade noticed the lack of a staircase. "How did he get up there?"

Kecleon pointed up at a hole in the ceiling. Judging by the irregular shape and jagged edges, it wasn't supposed to be there and had ended up there as a result of some kind of extreme damage.

"He fell from the top floor," Riolu said.

But now there was the question of how Kecleon could get down. It would be unsafe from him to jump down from the platform to the floor.

"I got it!" Popplio proclaimed. "We can make a chain from the hole in the ceiling and pull him up."

Riolu judged the distance between the platform and the ceiling and compared it to the combined heights of him, Popplio, Alesia, and Gallade. "Yeah, that would work."

So they turned around… but only managed to take a few steps back to the staircase before there were pounding noises from behind them. They turned around to see a gleaming – almost blindingly so – creature with a hexagon on its torso (in the middle of which there was a round hole), giant thick hexagons for shoulders, spheres for fists, and a phenomenally-smaller black sphere for what could be its eye. Alesia shivered and whimpered at the presence of the titan and hid behind her teammates.

"You dare intrude the home of the mighty Melmetal?!" thundered the creature, apparently naming itself.

"You're right, we do!" Riolu fired back. "We know you're holding Kecleon hostage here!"

Melmetal paused. "Who?"

So Melmetal hadn't kidnapped Kecleon after all, supposedly. From the looks of things, it hadn't even realized his presence. "Never mind that. We're still gonna get him back!"

The quartet legged it (except for Popplio, who dragged himself along the floor using his fins) to the doorway… but Melmetal beat them to it and blocked their way out. "Not so fast!" it boomed. "No one who intrudes my home shall live to tell the tale! I am the lifeforce that rules this home, and I'll deal with your friend up there once I've disposed of all of you!"

"Melmetal! No, whoever you are!" declared Popplio with anger Alesia had thought uncharacteristic of him. "For the sake of the Kecleon brothers, we, Team Everlasting, will strike you down!"

Determined to help protect the newly-formed team, Gallade jumped up and struck Melmetal with Close Combat, hitting it with his fists as many times as he could before Melmetal used Flash Cannon to send him flying off, leaving a trail of blinding light in his wake. Popplio fired a Bubblebeam while Riolu used Focus Blast, but the stream of rapidfire bubbles and the explosion of light only had the chance to do minimal damage before Melmetal swept the two Pokémon off the ground with Thunder Punch. As the electrified, enormous fist struck them, they cried out in pain from both the brute force and the electricity, laying down on the floor, temporarily unable to move.

Hiding behind a machine control system, Alesia used Swift, the onslaught of bright stars adding to the damage the others had already done. She attempted to evade a Thunderbolt, but wasn't quite fast enough and felt the power coursing through her body.

"Take this!" Riolu zoomed forward through the air with his fist exposed, and Melmetal felt Force Palm being slammed into it.

"Uh, and this!" Alesia added, aiming her Swift before opening fire.

"And another one of these!" Gallade returned to mercilessly striking Melmetal with Cross Chop.

"And that!" Popplio chimed in, getting the pronoun wrong before using Moonblast. A pink sphere of light shot through the air, knocking Melmetal back a couple of meters.

Melmetal seemed weakened a fair amount, evident by its struggle to get up and attack. It managed to do so eventually, and hit everyone (sans Kecleon) with a Thunderbolt. While the other three were able to collect themselves, Popplio lay on the ground, completely devoid of energy.

Seeing this, Alesia turned around.

"Alesia! Where are you going? We have to defeat this thing!" Gallade told Alesia, who appeared to be skipping town.

Alesia stopped running when she reached Popplio's satchel, which had been blown away. "Popplio needs help!" She rummaged through the satchel, then grabbed the sole Tiny Reviver Seed from it, remembering the name and figuring it must be for this purpose, and held it to Popplio's nose.

Popplio slowly bit it, then ate the entire thing, and sprung up. "Thank you, Alesia!"

They both ran to resume assisting Riolu and Gallade, both currently engaged in a combination attack. Melmetal's attacks caused massive damage, but the group still managed to fight, and would not let their resolve waver. The final nail in the coffin for Melmetal was Gallade's Cross Chop, at which point Melmetal gently wobbled around in place for a few seconds before he collapsed, forcing the four fighters to get out of its way so they didn't get crushed.

"We… we did it!" Riolu seemed more overjoyed than he ever had in Alesia's short time of knowing him. "We defeated it!"

"We couldn't have done it without you, Gallade," Alesia said to the dojo owner, giving credit where credit was due.

"It's my job to ensure as many Pokémon as possible can be good fighters to keep our future looking bright," Gallade assured the three smaller Pokémon. "Now let's go help Kecleon."

"Sure! Thanks again, Mr. Galluffet!"

Gallade gave a small exhale through his nose. "Gallade."

Popplio laughed awkwardly. "Oops. My bad."

* * *

"Brother!" Now that the purple Kecleon had returned to Izolo Village, the green Kecleon pulled him into a hug. "How wonderful to have you back!"

They turned to address the four Pokémon. "You all have our unending gratitude," the green Kecleon informed them, and produced several coins. "750 Poké! Counted it myself."

"Go ahead," Riolu told Gallade. "Take your share of the reward."

So Gallade accepted 100 Poké from the total. "This'll be enough, thank you very much. I'm sure the rest of you can make use of this if you need supplies for your work."

"No additional complimentary items?" asked the purple Kecleon. "Anything you like!"

"Nothing else for me, thanks," Gallade said modestly. "'Twas an honor to assist. I must return home. Take care, everyone, and be the best fighters you can."

"Goodbye, and thank you!" Team Everlasting and the Kecleon brothers called after him as he left.

Riolu turned his attention back to the shop to take the brothers up on their offer. "Well… wouldn't wanna take too much so you guys don't go bust… but we'll have a Reviver Seed, a Blast Seed, and a Sitrus Berry."

"Done!" The green Kecleon put the items on the counter. "You're all our favorite customers!"

"That's us!" Popplio said proudly.

"Thanks a lot." Riolu placed the new items into the satchel. "Bye!"

* * *

"That was AWESOME!" Popplio was still giddy about their success today. "We totally beat that big mean guy and saved Kecleon!"

"Still though, the three of us will need to handle the work by ourselves from now on," Riolu pointed out, his new Insomniscope next to him. "Thankfully, I doubt we'll be encountering too many Melmetal. Today was just a fluke."

"Oh, thank heavens." Alesia slumped over her bed. "I don't know how many of those I can take in one lifetime."

"But on the plus side, we got a ton of points for our mission," Riolu mentioned.

"Points? What are those?" Alesia enquired.

"When we successfully complete a mission, we get points which make our Team Rank go up."

"That's right!" said Popplio. "We're gonna get a really high scoe!"

"It's called a 'score', Popplio." Riolu turned over. "Anyways, I'm up for a good night's sleep if you are."

Alesia yawned. "Yeah, I know how that is…" She got back into a sleeping position. "Goodnight, you guys."

* * *

 **A/N (02/25/2019): This chapter has been reworked with added descriptions of the interior of Rusted Complex and what moves actually look like, a new segment of the journey to Rusted Complex, and attempts to convey the differences in personality between the three team members thanks to an in-depth, detailed review I received from cynsh. I thank him greatly for his time and attention.**


	5. First Interlude

Alesia floated through the ethereal dimension of continually-fading out and in colors. She was able to stop spinning around in the air and stay upright, while still aimlessly floating in wherever this place was. A white light in sharply-zigzagging directions went on for what seemed like light years, with her knowledge that light years measured distance and not time. She felt her body, how the bones and nerves inside connected to each other, and that it bore much similarity to what she had back when she was human. Flexing her fingers, she tried to look at herself, but her form was blurry and incomprehensible, a mishmash of colors, all more subtle and less saturated than the colors of the dimension she now inhabited.

 _That one's perfect._

Alesia heard a voice. It was the same as the voice she now mysteriously had ever since she'd woken up in the pitch black darkness in that area of Ambient Cave.

 _I'll use her._

The white zigzagging light vibrated as it turned to the same darkness as in the cave. The darkness reached out and coiled around her wrists, ankles, and neck, and yanked her in. She experienced her body shrinking and morphing as she passed through the pitch black portal, and after she had landed on the invisible ground with a thud, she registered that her body had reverted to the form of an Eevee.

 _No one will discover her. I, meanwhile, will soon have both of these places under my sole command._

What immediately hit Alesia in the gut was that she recognized that voice as her own from back when she was still a human. She attempted to get out of the darkness by climbing out back through the ongoing hole through which she could see the perpetually-alternating colors, but it sealed itself shut before she could make it out, trapping her here.

It was a dream, right? She'd wake up from it, wouldn't she?


	6. He Who Does Not Trust Enough

Alesia's eyelids instantly parted to reveal her black eyes with the brown and white reflections. It was still nighttime. Perhaps she wouldn't call her dream a nightmare, but rather somewhat bizarre, mainly near the end.

In any case, she ought to get back to sleep. Troubling dreams weren't foreign to her, and one wouldn't serve as an impediment to some much-needed shut-eye.

* * *

"Alesia! Alesia!"

Alesia woke up again, this time at a more reasonable time of morning, and found Popplio staring directly into her eyes. "Gah!" She darted back. "Popplio, you scared me."

"Sorry," he said. "But after yesterday went so well, I'm just super excited to do even more!"

"'Went well'?" Alesia repeated. "We barely got out alive…"

"But we still did, right? We can do anything because we're Team Everlasting!"

Then Riolu rolled over and rubbed his eyes. "Morning, guys. You think you're up for another mission after yesterday?"

"You know it!" Popplio started to make his way up the stairs out of their base and into Izolo Village.

"Just to be clear, we are NOT going to encounter something else like…" Alesia tried to remember the name. "Melmetal, are we?"

"Of course not!" said Riolu. "Yesterday wasn't supposed to happen. And even if something like that did happen again, no reason we couldn't deal with it like we did yesterday."

As Riolu left, Alesia had the most misgivings of the three about going for another day of potentially dangerous work – she'd only been able to fend for herself against a Pokémon slightly larger than her by herself, and it was because she'd had three others with her, one of whom was a much larger and trained fighter, that Melmetal had gone down. Still, she could hardly expect to instantly be highly competent at battling when she'd only been in this world with this form for such a short time as of yet. She followed Riolu out in the hopes he was right that she had little to fear.

* * *

"Hey, what's that?"

It had come to Riolu's attention that the bulletin board had an unusually-large poster with a picture of a Phantump. He went over to examine it, then came back and reported the details to Popplio and Alesia:

"Trevenant's kid didn't come home yesterday after he went to play in Izolo Woods. That being the woods around this village. And Trevenant is offering a 1,000 Poké reward for whoever saves him."

"Maybe he's not as greedy and miserly as we thought," Alesia uttered thoughtfully, a statement for which Riolu had nothing to say in opposition. "How about we take this? He must be worried sick. That, and it has the biggest reward."

"Yeah," Riolu concurred. "But, do you... think he'll be okay with us being the ones to do this?"

* * *

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

The three team members held their ears in an attempt to counter the intensity of Trevenant's steadfast refusal to allow them to take on the mission.

"But your own son is in danger!" Alesia protested.

"And you think I would allow thieves like you kids near my boy?!

"It's not your decision, actually," Riolu told him snarkily.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Look, old guy, we can go to Braviary about this."

"Then we shall," Trevenant agreed with an air of superiority. "What, do you really expect to be told it's all well and good for you to take this?"

* * *

"Yes, it is."

Trevenant was shocked at Braviary's answer. "But… but the girl's a thieving no-gooder!"

"And yet we have no evidence that she would commit an act of violence against another," Braviary replied.

Riolu folded his arms, self-satisfied. "Looks like you're just gonna have to deal with it, eh, old geezer?"

Alesia decided to say something herself, to try and improve the situation. "Riolu, you're not making us look good…" She spoke to Trevenant. "We'll bring your son back home safe and sound, sir," she promised as respectfully as possible.

"We can do it lickety-split!" Popplio contributed to Alesia's reassurances. "How big can those woods be?"

* * *

"Four hundred acres…" groaned Riolu, reading the sign for the first time. "This is gonna take a while."

Nonetheless, they began what would inevitably become a lengthy, draining search. Alesia decided to pass the time by making conversation. "So, Popplio, what is it you like so much about your Special Band?"

* * *

"Well, it's colorful and it makes some of my attacks more powerful!" Popplio answered happily.

"Never mind that now," Alesia told him. She wouldn't have been so quick to end the conversation if they hadn't mysteriously ended up on the roof of the village courthouse between Alesia asking the question and Popplio answering it. "How did we get up here?"

"The world may never know…" Riolu had no other way to answer. "Let's just get back down and continue our mission." He looked at a pile of leaves below them. "That pile of leaves ought to work."

"Is that definitely safe?" Alesia questioned cautiously.

* * *

"Sure is," Riolu answered, now that they were back in the forest after getting down from the roof. "Come to think of it, this search might work better if we split up again like yesterday."

"Aww, but I thought we were all gonna finally get to do it together!" yammered Popplio.

"I wish we could," Alesia assured him, "but that would take three times as long, then we'd have less time to do missions together in the future."

"I promise we'll do the next one all together, alright, buddy?" Riolu offered, at which Popplio became happier. "Meet you all back here in two hours."

 _Four and a half hours later…_

The team were all together again, sprawled out on the ground in exhaustion with none of the (admittedly little) energy they'd had before the beginning of the search.

"I found absolutely nothing in my section," Alesia told the other two, as if her drained expression didn't already make that evident.

Popplio spread his flippers out even further. "Unless he's in that big huge chasm, maybe he's not around here…"

"Yeah, we may have to look beyond this place." Riolu blinked a couple seconds after saying that, then shot up. "Did you just say there's a big huge chasm?"

"Yeah! Wanna see it?" Popplio led his teammates into the section of the forest he had explored by himself, then was just about to lose his balance, but managed to stay still, and moved back a little.

Starting a few inches from where the trees had stopped, there was a circular hole in the ground roughly between fifteen and twenty meters wide, and, as a risky look over the edge would reveal, about five times that in depth.

Riolu read the sign. "Sunlight Chasm…"

"You don't think he could have fallen in, do you?" Alesia was wrought with concern.

"He's a Phantump, remember? He _couldn't_ have fallen in," Riolu reasoned.

Alesia exhaled. "Oh, thank goodness…" she said, in a combination of relief over the shooting down of that scary possibility, and kicking herself for such an error.

"He could still have gone down willingly." Riolu assessed the situation. "But then, how can _we_ get down there too?"

"We could use that ladder," suggested Popplio, pointing at the other side of the chasm. Sure enough, there was a long, vertical wooden pole, with several much shorter horizontal poles attached. He was the first one to have spotted it, since the color blended in with that of the earth.

"Huh. Well, we've got no time to lose!" Riolu went around to the other side of the chasm, the other two following in his footsteps, and took the ladder downward.

As the chasm brought them into more and more darkness, the sunlight above them becoming further and further out of reach could only do so much to illuminate their environment. By the time they reached the bottom and had touched the floor composed entirely of dirt, it was difficult to know what was beyond, if anything at all.

"Did you happen to bring the torch you had when you first found me?" Alesia asked Riolu.

"Nope," Riolu answered curtly. "Too bulky to carry everywhere."

"So are we going to have to go all the way back to get it?"

Riolu was granted a reprieve from having to answer Alesia's question in a way she might not like, in the form of Popplio saying into his badge, "Whole team!"

All three of their badges lit up.

"Wow! Good thinking, Popplio!" Alesia complimented, impressed.

"Yeah, nice!" Riolu agreed.

Popplio blushed. "Aww, thanks, guys!"

The light from their badges had revealed a passageway. "In there!" Riolu approached said passageway, followed by Popplio, then Alesia. Now their mission was truly underway.

* * *

"There's the end!" Alesia pointed forward at a far-off light. Encouraged by the sight, she, Riolu, and Popplio all proceeded faster… but then, they heard a voice shouting.

"What was that?" Popplio asked. "It sorta sounded like 'sop veef'."

Riolu looked at Popplio, then back at the entrance. "Really? Sounded more like 'top leaf'."

Alesia had her own opinion. "I heard 'lop neef'."

They didn't have time to agree upon something, because just then, a Tyrunt wearing a bow tie – presumably a Ribbon or Scarf to enhance its combat abilities – came charging through the passageway, forcing the three already there to move to the side to allow it to pass. To further pique their curiosity, the Tyrunt was being chased by a yellow Kecleon with orange frills.

Alesia did not remove her gaze from the direction the two Pokémon that weren't her teammates had run off in. "Guess we'll never know what _that_ was about…"

"Whatever it was, we're losing valuable time by standing around here." Riolu returned to the middle of the passageway and resumed the trek, with his two teammates behind him.

* * *

The straight path brought them to yet another "room", with two diverging passageways.

"Everyone quiet," Riolu ordered. He loudly called out: "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Thanks to what would otherwise have been silence, they heard a child's voice shouting for help.

"It came from the right." Riolu pointed at the appropriate path. "Don't move! We'll come and get you!" he yelled in the direction of the voice. They started to make their way over, and Popplio turned his head to the side and spotted something.

"Guys? You might wanna come look at this." It was a red and yellow patterned carpet with several items on it.

"Someone must have left these here for R.E.E.D. teams like us! How nice." Riolu took a seed and two berries and dropped them into the satchel. "Alright, off we go."

* * *

When Team Everlasting emerged, the new area was somewhat smaller than the previous two that hadn't been corridors. This wasn't what they had come for, but rather what was inside it: a Phantump who seemed very shaky and nervous to see them.

Alesia knelt down to his level. "Hey, it's okay, little guy, you're safe now," she said gently, smiling sweetly. For good measure, she showed him her badge.

"What happened?" asked Riolu.

The Phantump sniffed. "I… I came to play in here but I got lost…"

"We happen to know the way out," said Popplio brightly. "Come on, your dad's worried sick over you."

* * *

"What's your team name?" asked Phantump, following the team going back the way they had come. "Is it Pokéninjas?"

"Actually, we're Team Everlasting," Riolu informed him.

"'Ninja' seems like a violent word to have in our name anyway," Alesia put in. "Poké _heroes_ , on the other hand, might pass the censor board, if there is one for team names."

Before their conversation could move any further, they reached the same spacious area containing the rug with several items. The yellow Kecleon from earlier was there too, and when he saw them, he pointed at them, seething with rage. "Stop! Thieves!"

"Thieves? Us?" Alesia fell over from the sheer tiredness of having to deal with this. "Great… now _everyone_ thinks I'm a thief…"

"Hey, so THAT'S what he was saying earlier!" Popplio realized.

"I know you stole from my shop!" the Kecleon accused, leaving it ambiguous which of them exactly he thought had done it and apparently referring to the carpet with items displayed on it.

"You… didn't leave these out for us to have?" Popplio showed him the three items Riolu had put into the satchel.

"NO I DID NOT! NOW YOU'LL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!"

Popplio flung the items back onto the carpet and joined the others in getting the heck out of there. Through the corridor they hurried, chased by the Kecleon, directly mirroring the spectacle they (sans Phantump) had gotten to witness earlier.

Phantump didn't need to use the ladder to escape, but the team weren't so fortunate. They had to climb as fast as they absolutely could, lest they fall victim to whatever Kecleon, pursuing them up the ladder, wanted to punish them with.

Of course, since Kecleon was behind all of them, that meant he was still on the ladder when the other three had finished climbing. It was now or never; Riolu shook the ladder, sending Kecleon tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down...

"Riolu!" Shocked at her friend's action, Alesia looked over the edge. "Is he hurt?"

"He'll be fine, it wasn't that high. Now let's go! Hurry!" He grabbed Alesia by the paw and evacuated the area with Popplio and Phantump.

* * *

"Son!" Trevenant embraced his newly-found child, overjoyed to have him back.

"Papa!" Phantump returned the gesture.

Alesia melted a little at the display. "We were happy to help, sir. Just doing our job."

Trevenant got up and nodded. "And so you shall have your reward." As he gave Alesia and her teammates the promised 1,000 Poké, it wasn't the high amount that struck Alesia as odd — after all, this was a parent willing to do anything to have their lost child returned safely. What did strike her as odd was the complete lack of animosity Trevenant appeared to have for her, despite their previous interactions. She'd been expecting some grumbling on his part at having to hand over the reward to someone he so clearly disliked — or at least had before this moment.

"Thank you," Alesia said.

"Yeah," Riolu added, after a short pause. Popplio didn't have anything to add; even he wasn't immune to moments of unsureness and awkwardness.

"You guys are so cool! Thanks for saving me!" Phantump's eyes were sparkling in awe.

"And that's not the end of it. Badges, please." Team Everlasting gave their badges to Braviary at his request. He turned around, did some fiddling around with them, then turned back around and returned the badges. "There's your points for your mission."

Popplio clapped. "Yay! Let's go do another mission!"

But then the sound of a belly rumbling was heard. It turned out to have come from Alesia. "That was me. Should we leave that until tomorrow? For now, I could really go for some dinner."

"Amen." Riolu nodded. "Don't worry, Popplio, there are plenty of teams to deal with the work. Now let's get moving if we want some grub before the Mega Donut place closes."

* * *

The starry night sky watched over Team Everlasting as they tucked into their evening meal. At this time of night, the Pokémon of Izolo Village were shutting up shop and returning home. As for the team, Alesia and Popplio had already eaten the donut they had each had, while Riolu was starting with apples and berries, intending to save his donut for the end, justifying it with, "Save the best for last."

"He once ate thirteen of those donuts!" Popplio recounted through a mouthful of apple.

Alesia seemed concerned. "Doesn't that seem a little unhealthy?"

"Don't worry, he had a fourteenth one right after!" Popplio continued.

Alesia decided not to point out the flaws, of which there were many, in this logic and instead kept eating her berries.

* * *

A Klefki was hiding inside a tree, observing the village. "No one's looking after the bank. Come on out, ladies."

Two more Klefki came out of a bush beneath her. She smirked. "Now's our time to shine."


	7. Three Klefki Versus the Law

**A/N: As you may have noticed if you're an early reader, the chapters now have actual names and not just Roman numerals in an attempt to look fancy. I originally planned not to have names for each individual chapter because I didn't feel I was up to the task of coming up with all of them, but I've since had a change of heart. This also solves the issue of the chapter numbers being desynched, as bwburke94 pointed out. This chapter was supposed to be called "Klefki Versus the Law and Team Everlasting" but was changed due to length restrictions.**

* * *

Despite the apples and berries he had gorged himself on beforehand, Riolu retained an insatiable appetite for the donut he still had. He opened his maw as wide as he possibly could and brought the object of his desire closer…

 _ **KA-BOOM!**_

Alesia shrieked and ducked down low, her front paws over her ears. "What was that?!"

From inside their team base, smoke could be seen rising up from somewhere in the village while the residents panicked.

"Hurry up, girls! Put as much as you can into the sack and get the heck out!" shrilled an unfamiliar voice.

Riolu returned the donut to the box it had come in, which he put in the satchel. "Come on, team!" He took the initiative and scurried up the stairs, and soon found what had caused the commotion.

Where Ferrothorn Bank used to be, there was now a gaping crater in the ground, revealing an enormous stash of Poké, no longer protected by a vault door. The now-missing door had been attached to a metal room buried underground, now accessible to anyone thanks to the irregular, dangerously-jagged, but large gap. Before he could go check it out, he was stopped by an outspread wing.

"Come along, kids!" said Braviary. "We all have to evacuate the village!"

* * *

"Who could be attacking us?! And why?!" Kangaskhan, like many other residents of the village – some notable exceptions being Gallade, Ferrothorn, and Riolu, although the latter did seem slightly on edge – was in hysterics, unable to cope while she desperately attempted to console her child in her pouch. They had all taken shelter in Ambient Cave, from which Braviary had called the police. The coldness, the threat of disturbing wild Pokémon… all of those cons were a minor payoff for the provision of sanctuary from whatever danger lurked in the village.

"Do you think we'll be able to get out of here soon? I don't like it here… it doesn't feel right..." Alesia expressed her discomfort, presumably because of her trapping here two days prior.

"Well, I'm leaving now." Riolu edged closer to the entrance.

"You're going?! But it's dangerous!" Alesia warned him.

"I heard someone telling someone else to 'put as much as they could into the sack and get the heck out'. Think about it. This is clearly a robbery, so they have no reason to blow anything else up. Braviary will try and stop me if he knows I'm going out to stop those robbers."

Popplio followed Riolu out loyally.

"Guys! Stop!" Alesia ran after them.

* * *

The trees separating Izolo Village from the outside world hid the team well. They had to remain quiet so as not to alert their currently-unknown foes of their presence.

Rather, the opposite happened.

The trio quietly followed the sound of who was presumably the leader berating her underlings. They eventually reached three Klefki attempting to move a heavy sack, obviously filled with Poké, a conclusion easily deducible from the current state of Ferrothorn Bank (or lack thereof). In the five minutes since the explosion, the three criminals had managed to move their loot about twenty-five feet, tops.

"...Wow. Worst. Criminals. Ever." Riolu facepalmed. "I thought this was going to be a challenge we could have fun with…"

"Team Everlasting at your service!" Popplio held up his badge. "We're taking you in for illegal possession of explosives, illegal detonation of explosives, gross property damage, theft in the first degree, terrorizing citizens, and interrupting our dinner!"

The ringleader giggled. "But can you take us all on?"

"I _do_ have a type weakness to them…" Alesia reminded Riolu, hoping he would listen.

"We defeated a Melmetal. I mean, sure, we had Gallade helping us, but these should be easy to take down." Riolu turned back to the band of robbers. "You bet we can!"

"Both of you and your nasty ringleader!" But then Popplio's anger abruptly subsided to make way for giggles. "Ringleader! And they look like rings!"

Said ringleader was highly unamused. "You're going first for that, boy! Fairy Wind!" The leader sent Popplio through the air with a tornado of pale blue energy until he hit a tree. Shaking it off, he got up and went in with a Water Gun, spraying the leader while Alesia used Tackle on one of the two underlings, causing it to collide with the other, hurting them both.

Riolu got up and lunged at the lead Klefki, grappling with her and kicking and punching her while refusing to let go no matter how much she shook. With Astonish, she finally got him away from her, and shot him with Fairy Wind, further weakening him.

Popplio sprayed a geyser of Aqua Jet on all of the Klefki, and in that moment of distraction, Alesia gave all of them a Swift.

The leader wasn't giving up yet. "Don't just lie about idly, you fools!" She charged at Alesia, who distinctly felt something on her neck. As it turned out, this particular Klefki had stolen her Joy Ribbon.

"Hey! Give that back!" Alesia jumped up, kicked Klefki with both of her rear legs, and yanked away the Joy Ribbon.

"Both of you! Get her!" The boss headed for Alesia and the two underlings followed her lead… at least until Popplio whacked her with a thick fallen branch, sending her blasting off into the night sky.

"Home run! Hit and run! Slam dunk!" Popplio cheered while the two underlings, unsure of what to do without input from their superior, started to sneak away.

"I don't think so." Riolu pounced onto one of them, slamming her down to the ground while he held her in place. She made one last ditch attempt at fighting back, but he ended it with a final Force Palm. Popplio, meanwhile, used Pound succeeded by Bubblebeam and rendered the other remaining Klefki helpless.

"Well, that's two of them down…" Alesia looked up. "But where's the last one?"

"I've got her here."

Knowing that voice, the three team members slowly turned around to see Braviary carrying the leader of the Klefki. "When I told you all to stay with us, I did _not_ mean 'sneak out behind my back and put yourselves in danger'."

Alesia pointed at Riolu. "It was his idea!"

"And your choice to go along with it."

Alesia stammered, but failed to come up with an adequate counterargument.

"It's a miracle you're all okay," Braviary continued sternly but still with a hint of concern for their well-being in his voice. "Now, let's get these bandits back to Izolo Village. The police are expecting them."

* * *

With the danger over, most of the residents of the village were returning to their homes.

"I can't apologize enough for what happened to your bank," Braviary told Ferrothorn, who was clearly angry. "I promise we'll start work on rebuilding effective immediately." Members of the police force nearby were dealing with the crooks.

"Let's see…" Aerodactyl pulled out his notebook. "Illegal possession of explosives… illegal detonation of explosives..." he murmured. "Gross property damage…" He glanced at the site of the explosion, before he jotted down the first three crimes for which there was an overwhelming amount of evidence. "Theft in the first degree…" he went on, observing the sack of Poké, writing down that offense as well. He spotted Kangaskhan comforting her small child. "Terrorizing citizens…" He added that to the list.

"And I was just about to tuck into my donut before we heard that explosion," complained Riolu.

"You mean to say that this trio interrupted your lunch? The lunch of a R.E.E.D. team?" asked Salazzle, her vision turning to Aerodactyl as he included that in the notebook. "Well, that'll be another few days in the cells! It's important that our teams are kept fit and rejuvenated, and that isn't possible if someone interferes with their mealtimes."

"You've all been great citizens. Thank you for your cooperation." Magnezone and the other two officers arranged themselves so as to block all three of the Klefki from escaping as they left the building.

They all made their way out of the village, disappearing down the path and into the trees.

Braviary returned to his desk to fill out some paperwork regarding the incident. "As you younglings know, I'm not amused with your endangering yourselves against my orders… but you _did_ catch and defeat the thieves, so you all deserve a reward."

Knowing the drill by now, Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio all provided him with their badges so that he could apply points.

Alesia happened to spot a poster on the wall, with pictures of several different variations of a R.E.E.D. team badge. "What are those for?"

Riolu went to inspect it. "This is a guide on the different ranks we can get and how many points we need to earn to get each one."

Popplio dropped the satchel onto Braviary's desk and he and Alesia went to join Riolu. Braviary turned back around and was just about to let the team know that their badges now had even more points on them… but his sight instead was distracted by the fried confection that had fallen out of the satchel and onto the desk, the moonlight through the window reflected in the glazed coating that missed not a single patch of fluffy doughy goodness.

"You brought this for me? How kind of you!" Satisfied with his assumption, Braviary clutched the donut, before the opportunity for one reason or another could escape his grasp.

Now that the snack was on its way to Braviary's beak, there was nothing in the world that could possibly take it away from him. At the same time the donut drew closer, his beak opened wider, until the two were aligned perfectly, which meant Braviary could shut his beak with the treat inside. The section that was captured was torn off from the rest of the ring, leaving most of the dessert still on the outside while the missing section was now being chewed up into a mushy mass, the flavor sucked out by Braviary's hungry chewing and savoring, while the only evidence there had ever been that delectable sugary assault of taste was the momentary sensation of the flavor dancing on his tastebuds.

The process was repeated with what remained of the donut en masse, until all that remained were a few crumbs on Braviary's counter, a testament to the magnificent beauty of the prized creation of the Mega Donut. Riolu stared slack-jawed, tears welling in his eyes, at the loss of his beloved confection.

"Hey? What's with the face?" Braviary waved a wing in front of Riolu. "That donut you gifted me was awfully tasty. I think you all deserve some extra points!"

He turned his back to them and repeated the process of applying points to the badges, which he then returned to their respective team members.

Riolu overcame the tragedy of his lost donut and snapped back to his senses. "Hey, guys! Look!" He fixated intently on his badge as something happened… both of the four-point stars on the white base of his badge had previously been transparent, but now they were glowing. When that stopped, the front star was now bright blue while the one at the back was gray.

The same had happened with his companions' badges. As a cursory glance at the poster on the wall would reveal...

"We just went up a rank!" Popplio grabbed Alesia and Riolu and pulled them in for a group hug. Evidently, they were just as delighted as he was.

"Indeed you did!" Braviary affirmed encouragingly. "Enjoy having gone from Normal Rank to Crystal Rank."

Popplio had his cheeks smooshed between his find. "Can't sleep...! Too exciting...!"

"Then we won't sleep." Riolu had what he thought was a better idea. "We'll go to that Mega Donut shop here and demand that they open their doors again."


	8. Digging for Truth

Team Everlasting received a visitor the next morning, before they'd even woken up to welcome him. Toucannon fluttered down and perched his feet on the edge and looked down into their base at the sleeping trio. "Attention, please!" he squawked.

They winced at the sharp voice and clutched their heads. Riolu took it the worst, still feeling the sugar hangover from the Mega Donuts at Exeggutor's shop the night before. The shop wasn't technically open during the time of night it had been, but Exeggutor had been awake from the commotion anyway, and providing the team with service was the least he could do after they had taken care of a band of criminals. He looked up to see their uninvited visitor, removing his paws from his ears shortly thereafter. "What do you want, birdbrain?"

"Braviary has requested an audience with the Eevee on your team," Toucannon explained, either ignoring the insult or oblivious to it.

"Alesia," the Eevee he was referring to specified.

"Of course. Chop chop!" Toucannon flew back to the village courthouse. Alesia groggily clambered up the stairs to follow him.

* * *

When Alesia entered the courthouse, she was greeted by a Braviary… not the shiny Braviary she thought Toucannon had been referring to, but a regularly-colored one who matched the colors of the Braviary-themed exterior of the courthouse. "...Hello?"

"Greetings," the Braviary replied, in a voice that sounded very similar to that of the shiny Braviary, but with some noticeable differences, mainly the somewhat deeper pitch. "Alesia, was it?"

"Not uh-lee-zhee-uh," she corrected, insisting on a certain pronounciation. "Uh-lee-zhuh."

"My apologies. Thank you for clarifying." Braviary slowly paced the floor. "I understand you've been accused of stealing something from the bookstore in this village."

"Yes, but I didn't do it, honestly, it–"

She instinctively went silent when Braviary held up his wing. "I ought to introduce myself. I am usually the one who runs things in this village. But, I've been away overseeing important business in the Magma Continent."

Alesia didn't know what this was, but felt it wasn't her place to enquire.

"So my twin brother was covering for me. It seems he handled your case in an improper way. Absent sufficient evidence to incriminate you, I am pleased to inform you that you have been found innocent."

To complement the weight lifted off her shoulders, Alesia beamed. "Really? Thank you so much!"

Braviary smiled. "I hear you're on a team with two other Pokémon, and that you all defeated a trio of destructive thieves last night."

Alesia blushed and pawed at the ground. "Well… it was a team effort."

"I must say, I'm rather impressed," Braviary remarked. "Be sure to pass the compliment on to your teammates."

Alesia nodded. "Yes, sir!"

"I shan't keep you waiting any longer, as I'm sure you wish to return to work. In fact, I have business to tend to myself." He sat down in his chair and grabbed a stack of papers. "Do your best now."

"We… we will! And thanks for everything!" Alesia ran back outside and found Riolu and Popplio getting ready for the day ahead of them.

"That was a different Braviary I was just talking with," she explained. "He's the one who's usually in charge of this village and he knows I didn't steal that book! And he also told me to let you know he's impressed with us."

"That's awesome!" Popplio pulled her in for a hug. "I knew it was never you!"

"The evidence it was you _was_ rather lacking," Riolu said. "But I gotta say… Kangaskhan said the Eevee who stole the book was wearing a red bracelet. You had that on when we found you. Not that I think you did it, it just seems weird."

"I don't understand that either." Alesia shook her head. "Honest. I wish I knew more about what life was like before…"

Riolu decided they weren't getting any closer to solving the mystery and that they instead should get on with today's work. "Ferrothorn is going to need some materials to help rebuild the bank. So we're going to Marble Cavern."

Just then, Popplio interjected. "If you're innocent, Alesia, then that means you don't have to pay Trevenant that money! We could buy a Technical Machine from the Kecleon shop!"

"Do you know what those are?" Riolu asked Alesia.

Alesia could have sworn something like that existed in the memories deep inside her head, but ultimately she couldn't draw it out. "No."

"When you touch it, it teaches you a new move as long as it's possible for you to learn it. It imprints the knowledge of the move into your mind. And I think it's a great idea!"

Alesia found the idea of knowledge being artificially injected into her mind to be... odd, to say the least. But maybe this was how Pokémon back home could learn moves? Perhaps if she tried hard enough to dig deep into her memories...

So this meant a trip to the Kecleon shop. The duo of brothers were happy to see the team. "Ah, what can we get for you, our fine heroes?" asked the green Kecleon.

"Gee, thanks," Riolu replied, pleased with the respect they were all getting. "Do you have any TMs? One that all three of us can learn?"

"That'll be my department." The purple Kecleon placed a box full of discs on the table. "Might I suggest Double-Edge?"

"That's a Normal-type move, Alesia," Riolu told the Eevee. "It'll work well for all of us but especially for you."

Alesia seemed lost in thought at that.

"It'll give you same-type attack bonus," Riolu told her, taking her memory problems into account.

"Oh! Right!" she finally said.

"Then let's do this!" Popplio agreed in excitement.

Riolu nodded at them. "We'll take a Double Edge!"

"So you shall! And to reward you all for your efforts, you may have it for the meager price of 1,500 Poké!"

Riolu was just about to object over how "meager" this offer really was, but noticed a list of prices on the wall and saw that TMs were usually much more expensive than this. "Done." He gave them the money and received the TM in return.

"Thank you, come again!" the brothers sent them off with.

Riolu placed the disc flat on the ground and put his paw on it. It shone with energy, and so did Riolu. "That's me done," he said when the light had faded.

Popplio smiled at Alesia and stretched his flipper out, inviting her to go first. She did so, and the same thing happened with her. Then it was Popplio's turn, and he repeated the process.

"And now we all know Double Edge!" Riolu picked the disc back up. "Now let's put this in safekeeping."

Next was a trip to Kangaskhan's storage facility. "So, youngsters, where are your adventures taking you today?" she asked sweetly, scanning Riolu's badge next to a purple and golden box before placing the disc inside and returning the badge.

"We're fetching material from Marble Cavern to rebuild Ferrothorn Bank," Riolu explained.

"Then you'll need equipment," Kangaskhan reminded. She reached down below and rose back up and placed three hard hats, three pickaxes, and three large buckets on the counter. "Here! You can all borrow these."

The trio took one of each. "Thank you!" said Alesia, and tried her helmet on. It was just the right size for her, so it was safe to assume it was smaller than a helmet a human would wear. Having managed to push her ears through the holes in the top, she fastened the clip underneath her chin. "We'll bring them back in good condition, we promise."

Kangaskhan smiled. "The marble Ferrothorn needs is on the bottom floor, 15F. Do you know the way?"

"Yep!" Riolu held up the map. "We'll be back by evening."

"Your Technical Machine will be safe here in the Deposit Box. Now go get 'em!"

* * *

Riolu peered through the doorway at the rough, descending staircase. "We could be in there for a long time… but we'll manage it, right, team?"

"Sure will!" Alesia affirmed.

"Popplio?"

When there was no response, they glanced to the side to see Popplio shaking a tree while wearing his hard hat _upside-down_ so that Berries fell from the tree and into the hat. He looked back at them. "Ready!" he agreed, dumping the berries into the satchel and then putting his hat back on the right way.

So in they went, slowly going down the stairs. Inside, obscured by the darkness, Riolu lit his torch, and the burning flame suddenly flared up, illuminating the cavern. Alesia hastily withdrew, coming out of the brief ordeal with only some singed fur. "Careful with that!" she scolded.

"Sorry," Riolu said, shrugging.

That would have been the end of the commotion, but Alesia looked back in front of her and was then looking directly into the eyes of a Gliscor hanging from the ceiling. "Boo."

"Eeeeep!" Alesia fell over in surprise. Realizing she couldn't afford to be too gutless if she wanted to get anywhere with her rescue/exploration/enforcement/delivery work, she got back up and used her first Double Edge, launching the Gliscor away but also incurring a small amount of damage to herself. She winced, but shook it off and got back up.

"Wow, that thing _really_ worked," Riolu observed, impressed with the Technical Machine they had used earlier. "Not perfect... but don't worry, you'll get better at it the more you use it."

"Yeah!" agreed Popplio. "Riolu and I couldn't use Focus Blast and Moonblast that good at first."

"I don't want to encounter too many of those," Alesia complained. "It's already going to take us a while to get to the bottom floor."

"Aw, come on now, don't be so downhearted! We've faced tougher opponents than that!" Popplio's unfaltering spirit shone through his words of encouragement. He proceeded onward to the large gap in the ground that would lead them all that little bit closer to their goal. "'Scuse me," he uttered as he climbed over the unconscious Gliscor. Alesia and Riolu followed him, but didn't afford the same politeness Popplio had to the Gliscor.

* * *

After a matter of hours, consisting of traveling further down into the cavern, the trio emerged from the final staircase, covered in dust and sweat while panting. The area was somewhat cramped, but it still had enough space for them to claim what they had journeyed here for. "It's hot in here…" Popplio softly lamented.

"But we made it. How about we go for a swim outside Ambient Cave when we get back?" Riolu suggested.

Alesia enjoyed the idea, and voiced her approval accordingly. Popplio, however, was so ecstatic that he danced around on his tail.

"Then we'll do that. First, though, we have work to do." Riolu raised his pickaxe and threw the spike at the wall, piercing the surface. He held his bucket underneath the pickaxe and rocked the embedded spike around, causing most of the rock to crumble into the bucket. The few pieces that fell to the ground, he simply picked up and dropped in with the rest of the broken rock.

With a slight degree of uncertainty, Popplio and Alesia copied Riolu, the sharp spikes of their tools hitting the wall, allowing them to gradually fill their buckets with chunks of hardened marble.

Eventually, Popplio felt something different stuck in the wall. He leant in to inspect it closely, and made out a speck of orange.

"Yay! I found treasure!" He put the spike of the pickaxe back into the wall and maneuvered it around inside, and dislodged the shiny orange mass. It still had rock stuck to it, but that crumbled off when the orange object hit the ground, revealing it in full.

"Hey, isn't that—"

"Wait! Don't tell me!" Alesia interrupted Riolu. "I think I can get it." She skimmed through her mind, attempting to figure out what the object was for herself. After several moments of thinking, during which Riolu became rather impatient, she eventually came to a conclusion. "Fire… Rock? No, stone! Fire Stone!"

"Yeah, that's it!" Popplio confirmed. "Some Pokémon use it to evolve, and if you used it, you'd evolve into a Flareon!"

"But first you have to go to a place called Sea Shrine," added Riolu. "Also, there are several other Pokémon an Eevee can evolve into."

"You mean Jolteon and Vaporeon!" Alesia continued brightly, having a sudden spike in her ability to recall memories of her human life. "With a Thunder Stone and a Water Stone!" She kept probing, but failed to recall anything beyond that.

"There's even more!" said Popplio. "If you have a Lunar Ribbon, you become an Umbreon! Or an Espeon with a Sun Ribbon! A Mossy Rock for a Leafeon, or a Frozen Rock for a Glaceon…"

Somehow, that information struck Alesia as inaccurate, but she chalked it up to the fact that this was a completely different world.

"And something called the Heart of the Light lets you evolve into Sylveon! But that's it."

"Do you want to evolve into a Flareon, Alesia?" asked Riolu. "It's your call."

Alesia bit her lip. "Nah," she answered. "With that many options, I don't know if I'll regret it later."

"That makes sense, I guess," said Riolu, leaving the Fire Stone in the treasure bag. His eyes scanned the three buckets they were carrying. "That's as much as we can carry. It's time to go back."

* * *

Alesia was almost starting to wish they were still making their way downward, because even that seemed almost pleasurable compared to the way back, where they each had to lug a heavy bucket, and travel upward, which of course meant gravity was working against them.

Finally, they saw light shining through a roughly-shaped doorway in the wall. "We're done… finally…" Alesia said gratefully, her voice strained from sheer exhaustion.

"What, you weren't thinking of giving up, were you?" Riolu teased.

"No! Of course not. They're counting on us." Alesia trudged forward and allowed the light shining through the doorway to overtake her as she passed from the warm inside of the cavern out into the open where the sun's rays emanated down onto her. "Told you I could make it."

"Never celebrate too early," Riolu advised. "We still have the village to get back to."

"Easy peasy!" Popplio attempted to say, but it came out a little unintelligible since he was holding his bucket in his mouth.

* * *

The sun was setting when Team Everlasting returned to Izolo Village. They headed down the winding path leading in… and soon found a surprise in store for them.

Balloons hung from every rooftop while chains of lights hung between every building. A large banner above read, "CONGRATULATIONS TEAM EVERLASTING!" The residents of the village stood together in a crowd and all cheered for the team when they emerged from the trees, clad in hard hats, carrying buckets, and dirtied with dust from the cave.

"It's great to see you back!" Kangaskhan said, approaching them as they set the rock-filled buckets down onto the ground and removed their headgear. "We just thought we should commemorate your act of heroism like you all deserve!"

"For us?" Alesia hadn't been expecting this at all. "Thank you!"

"There's that," said Gallade, showing up next to Kangaskhan. For his party dress, he had opted for the Twist Band he had taken with him from Rusted Complex. "And it's also since Alesia is off the hook."

"For the book theft?"

Gallade nodded at Riolu. "We all knew it was never you, Alesia. It just wouldn't be like you." He knelt down to whisper to the trio. "Just between you and me, Trevenant is... kind of unpopular around here." After his first meeting with Trevenant, Riolu liked hearing his opinion validated.

"So I hope this will make up for your troubles." The shiny Braviary had returned, and it was now his turn to speak. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I put you through, young lady."

"He just wasn't as cut out for the responsibility as I hoped," the normal-feathered Braviary offered.

"Well, that's... okay," Alesia forgave. "You were just doing your job."

The speeches weren't quite done yet. Next up was Trevenant. "Thank you for saving my son," he slowly said, as if he felt somewhat awkward about it. "And I would also like to apologize."

"Thanks a bunch." Alesia's smile returned. "Again, we can forgive you. Right, guys?"

"Right!" Popplio raised a flipper.

"Well…" Even as the most capable of the three of holding a grudge, Riolu could find it in him to accept the bookkeeper's apology, especially since he was displaying genuine remorse for how he had treated them before. "Sure. We can."

Tears welled up in Popplio's eyes. Kangaskhan offered him a handkerchief and he accepted it, sobbing into it and soaking it with tears. He lifted his face back up. "Sorry," he told everyone, wiping away the bubble that was forming on his nose. "Moments like this just make me get all touchy-feely inside…"

"Shh... it's okay." Alesia patted him on the back.

"I'm proud of you all," Gallade commended them. "Keep on being the best fighters you can be."

"You're the best!" Kangaskhan child and Phantump — the first of whom popped out of his mother's pouch in a manner reminiscent of a jack-in-the-box — congratulated the team simultaneously.

With the hatchets buried and Team Everlasting given the appropriate kudos for their contributions to Pokémon alike, the party was soon underway. Purple Kecleon, Gallade, and the shiny Braviary twin all squabbled over which of them would get to dance with Kangaskhan, who found the whole spectacle highly laughable. Exeggutor had prepared the refreshments, including the Mega Donuts his shop was popular for, amongst Sweet Chocolates, Four Leaf Cookies, Poffins, and to wash it down, several Gummi Drinks. Riolu (wearing his Insomniscope for the occasion) attempted to persuade the many adult residents of the village to let him have just a _teensy_ sip of liquor, but unfortunately for him, seventeen wasn't quite old enough. Popplio had been practicing balancing a rather oversized beach ball on his nose in his spare time, and was now demonstrating his new skill to bring a party trick to the… well, party.

Alesia wished she could find someone to dance with, but was far too shy to actually ask around, so she idly sipped her Gummi beverage. Popplio knew that an entertainer couldn't keep reusing the same act, so enlisted the help of Alesia, who was happy to oblige out of desire for something to do, which turned out to be Popplio blowing a bubble with her inside. It didn't seem like such a bad idea at first, but she quickly changed her tune when she started floating high into the air and desperately begged to be let down. The bubble popped by itself, and Trevenant was the one who caught her when she fell.

The party was great for the hours it lasted, and kept everyone entertained long into the night, but like all social events, it had to end eventually. The lights were turned off, the banner was brought down, and the tired Pokémon all retreated to their homes. The youngest kids in the village had already fallen asleep, but the older residents soon followed a short time after setting their heads down on their respective pillows.

* * *

 **A/N: I haven't been feeling great the past few days, but I managed to get this one out while I could. Hooray!**

 **When I was writing this chapter, I was concerned over the possibility it would be rather pointless, but then I figured out how to work the topic of evolution into it.**


	9. Climbing the Ranks

**A/N: Thanks so much for over 1,000 views, 10 favs and (not over) 20 follows! I'd also like to thank Evening Meadow Grace for providing more exposure by allowing me to host this story in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! community.**

* * *

The quiet morning after last night's loud, energetic party had started with Team Everlasting waking up and seeing each other covered in rock dust, prompting them to realize they had forgotten all about getting cleaned up yesterday. To remedy that, they were currently taking a dip in the stream surrounding Ambient Cave, listening to the sound of a thin sheet water flowing from above, down the rocks, and into the stream. Three scarves lay on the ground next to the water. Alesia and Riolu were idly relaxing in the cool water while Popplio was swimming around aimlessly, occasionally bobbing his head or just his spherical pink nose above the surface.

"Why don't either of you guys evolve?" Alesia asked Riolu, her mind on the topic from yesterday's mission.

"We're not strong enough yet," Riolu explained. "Popplio and I don't evolve with the same methods you do. But don't worry, we'll get it."

Alesia nodded… but then shrieked with terror at the sight of a Sharpedo's fin slowly cutting through the surface of the water inches away from her. She jumped out of the water and onto the ground, her back arched like a cat.

Used to the trick, Riolu did not so much as flinch, instead opting to roll his eyes as Popplio arose from the water, laughing as he took the Sharpedo fin off his back.

* * *

Thanks in part to Alesia forgiving Popplio for his prank (he had seemed genuinely sorry for eliciting such an unexpectedly over-the-top reaction), Team Everlasting's work went swimmingly over the next few days. Every time they succeeded, Izolo Village thought even better of them, the rocky start Alesia had had here entirely forgotten and irrelevant. Being such a secluded, small place, they had lacked a dedicated R.E.E.D. team until the trio had formed one, a fact that further bolstered the villagers' appreciation of the three of them. They rescued Pokémon, captured a couple of outlaws, delivered required items, and got some training in at Gallade's dojo.

The new Ferrothorn Bank was finished during this time too, as a result of the other villagers chipping in to help while Team Everlasting were busy.

After a few days of work, they were on the verge of rising in rank to Bronze Rank. Today, a Pelipper soared through the skies before lowering down to the ground to deliver this week's mail so Toucannon could open all the letters asking for help–identifiable by the Pelipper stickers sealing them shut–and pin them to the bulletin board, the opposite of his task of removing jobs from the board whenever Braviary received word that they had been completed.

As usual, Team Everlasting were there to survey it. "How about this guy?" suggested Popplio, waving a "WANTED" poster of a Nosepass. "He blew up a pizza parlor. No one was hurt, though."

"Why'd he do that?" asked Alesia.

"Because they served pineapple pizza."

"I'm sure someone else will take care of it," Riolu quickly stated as he took the poster out of Popplio's fin and put it back on the board. "Let's go after this guy." He tore a new poster off the board and revealed it had a picture of a Cacturne wearing a fedora. He studied the poster further. "The police think he's in Sweeping Rapids. Should be easy to locate a fedora-wearing Cacturne."

Gallade was passing by. "You're going after Cacturne?" Seeing the poster further, he added, "Well, he won't be wearing that."

"How can you be sure?" asked Alesia.

"The respective towns of the three banks he robbed all reported a Cacturne, but each one said he was wearing a different hat. First a top hat, then a beret, and the third one was in that fedora."

"He wouldn't want to keep a consistent appearance," Riolu pointed out.

"Lemme see that!" Popplio grabbed the poster for a look and squinted ever so closely at the label sticking out of the fedora. He was able to identify the logo as Flaaffy Fashions. "Gallade, do all of those towns have a Flaaffy Fashions store?"

"No idea," Gallade confessed. "But Braviary might be able to help you."

* * *

Braviary pulled open a drawer and placed a few sheets of paper onto his desk in front of the team. He briefly read each one. "Yes," he told them. "All of those places have their own Flaaffy Fashions store."

Popplio suddenly gasped the most dramatic gasp any of them had ever heard, lasting all of four seconds. "I know what he's doing! He's buying a hat at one Flaaffy Fashions store and returning it for a full refund at the next Flaaffy Fashions store! HE MUST BE STOPPED!"

"Do you also intend to stop the chain of robberies?" Braviary questioned.

"Yes, sir," answered Riolu.

"But Popplio," Alesia began, calmly like the previous two speakers, "If he's robbing banks, why would he bother buying a hat instead of just stealing one?"

"Because the sooner he's done committing a crime, the sooner he can skip town! You just see if I'm not right!"

Riolu examined the map. "Sweeping Rapids is that mountain in the distance."

* * *

It had been a very long walk for them. The further they got to the pale yellow rocky mountain far away, the more their ears were filled with the sound of crashing water. When they looked forward at it while walking, it didn't seem to get any closer, but the times where they became lost in thought or answered each other's hypothetical questions as a way to pass the time, returning their attention to the structure, there was a noticeable difference in how close they were to it, reminding them that their efforts to reach it were not in vain.

Their feet finally had a rest as they stopped at their destination and gazed high up.

Sweeping Rapids had evidently fallen victim to erosion over the years, with its dug-out vertical passageways corresponding to the randomly-scattered waterfalls that flew off the high ledges into the stream that circled the mountain. In the stream were floating logs, aimlessly suspended in the water while scattering into various directions.

Popplio was the last Pokémon who could struggle getting across, not least because of his high swimming expertise thanks to his typing. He leapt high and took a nosedive into the water, swimming through like an arrow piercing through the air, then emerged gracefully and landed on the other side of the stream, and proceeded to take a bow.

"Well, it seems a little too fast for us," Riolu commented, watching the water flow with an unsafe speed for him and the Eevee beside him. "But maybe we could use those logs?"

"I don't know if that's safe…" Alesia slightly stepped back timidly.

"Popplio'll get us out if it's not," Riolu assured her.

Only slightly encouraged, Alesia stepped back to her original position and eyed the water cautiously.

Riolu smirked and shoved her forward. "So let's get moving!"

Alesia panicked and in the few moments of opportunity, made sure her four paws landed on a log. It rolled forward, and would have dropped her into the water if she hadn't caught onto another log with her front paws, before she brought her whole body onto it and leapt off and landed on the other side of the water next to Popplio.

She was understandably pissed, not even cheered up by Popplio applauding her and holding up a sign reading "8.7".

"Not bad," Riolu told her. "Trust me, it's gonna get a lot more dangerous than that in our future missions." He closed his eyes and exaggeratedly held his foot in the air as if to take a step. "Now let me demonstrate how a more experienced Pokémon–" Still showing off, he tried to finish his step onto a log, but was instead met with water. The surprise of not meeting the footing he had expected to made him fall in. His head came up, gasping for air, and he latched onto the edge of the other side. He prepared to climb up when he suddenly felt something on his tail. "Popplio, stop goofing off. Again."

"But I'm over here."

Riolu looked up to see Popplio and realized he had defaulted to the explanation that Popplio was playing some sort of trick and forgotten that he was no longer in the water. "Then who's…"

Just then, a Magikarp popped up from the surface to reveal it had his tail in its mouth, and was latching on tight with its thick lips.

"GET IT OFF! GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!" Riolu yelled as he thrashed his tail about in an attempt to get rid of the unwelcome passenger. Alesia was on the ground laughing hysterically at the display, but Popplio came and grabbed the Magikarp, attempting to pull it off. After some work, the combined efforts of Riolu and Popplio separated the former from the fish Pokémon.

Popplio gently deposited the Magikarp back into the water. "Just keep swimming!" he dismissed it, waving as it left.

Alesia grinned at Riolu, who responded with a death glare as they all turned back around to the mountain up close. The wall was too high for them to climb, even if they formed a tower.

"I got it!" Popplio held his fin in the air, then pointed it at Riolu. "Riolu, use Force Palm!"

Knowing what Popplio had in mind, Riolu made his palms face each other as if holding something. The space between them was gradually filled by a sphere of energy. Alesia recognized the sound from when Riolu had used this move to free her from that sectioned-off part of Ambient Cave, only now it was lasting much longer.

Popplio moved away from the wall with Alesia. "Keep going! You're good! You're good! You're good!" he called as the sphere grew bigger. "Aaaaand… fire!"

Riolu threw the ball of energy at the wall of the mountain. It made a crack that spread across the surface until the jagged pieces of rock separated from each other and plummeted down into a pile, sloping diagonally. The trio had all been well out of the way upon impact, but the falling of the rock still gave off a large cloud of dust, causing them all to cough and wipe their eyes.

"Aren't you guys glad you have yours truly as your leader?" Riolu said proudly as he gestured at himself, wanting to save face after his slip-up, and started to walk up the slope. Popplio and Alesia did the same, also following Riolu's example of jumping up to grab onto the edge of a still-intact wall and climbing onto it.

The path between the edge and the wall was somewhat narrow, but not so much that they had to be extremely careful outside of sharp turns in the direction of the path, which became steeper the further they walked, until they eventually reached a more open space of flat rock. They examined the area for a pathway upward, and found some rocks arranged in such a way that it was possible for them to use each one to get to higher ground.

* * *

As they scaled the mountain, with Popplio keeping an eye out for berries and seeds to take with them, the increase in altitude making their ears pop every so often, they passed masses of rocks, some not much taller than them, while other towered high above them. Alesia was worried they might end up crushed if they weren't careful, and insisted on moving quickly. They eventually reached a more even, level area of the irregularly-formed structure.

"Anyone have any dreams last night?" Popplio asked randomly, wanting an interesting conversation topic. "You didn't have any more nightmares about Itemizer Orbs, did you, Riolu?"

"Itemizer Orbs? What are those?" asked Alesia.

"They're not real," said Riolu. "They're just a myth. At least, I think so..."

Alesia hadn't had any memorable dreams ever since that one from about a week ago, but she had neglected to tell anyone about it. She hadn't thought it meant anything and was simply the result of the mystery of how she had become a Pokémon and ended up in this Pokémon-filled world being on her mind constantly, but now she felt maybe it really did mean something. As a human, she hadn't believed that dreams had any special meaning, but if they did, it would hardly be the weirdest thing to happen after this. "Well... there was this one from a week or so ago I never told you guys about."

So she told them all about how she'd floated in a multicolored plane of existence as a human, then about how a voice that matched the one she currently possessed had said she'd "use her" — presumably meaning Alesia — before the environment had abruptly taken on a more disturbing appearance as Alesia had been flung into a black void and turned into an Eevee, and a new voice that she knew matched her human voice had said she'd have two places under her control.

"You should have mentioned this earlier," Riolu told her. "Are there any more dreams like that you've failed to inform us about?"

"No..." She shook her head. "I'll let you know if I have any."

Popplio saluted. "We'll help you solve the mystery, Alesia, we promise!"

She smiled warmly. "Thanks."

"You know what I'm surprised we haven't encountered yet?" said Popplio as the team continued exploring the large expanse of land.

"What?" asked Alesia.

"Traps."

Before she could ask what those were, there was a clicking noise as the patch of ground beneath Alesia magically turned into metal. Something small hit her on the head.

She looked down to see it had been a… chestnut? It sat on the ground. Since none of them had been looking up, they hadn't seen where it could have come from. "Where did that come from?"

"It's a mystery," Riolu confessed. "Guess it's not your lucky day, Alesia. In a wide space like this, stepping on a trap isn't easy to do unless you really try."

He stepped forward, confident they wouldn't be encountering any more of them. But then, another metal square on the ground materialized beneath him.

One chestnut fell onto him, but then so did another chestnut after that. Then another. And then chestnuts fell rapid-fire until he was completely buried in a pile of chestnuts.

A blue fist emerged from the pile, and soon the entire pile fell apart to reveal a very annoyed-looking Riolu.

He stormed away, and the other two took the hint and tried to keep up with him.

* * *

"Not your lucky day, huh, Riolu?" Alesia remarked cheekily. "Stepping on a trap isn't easy to do unless you really try."

"If you don't shut up," Riolu snarled, "I'll give you a stupid haircut in your sleep."

Alesia laughed at the absurd threat. "Like what? Straight bangs?"

"Exactly those," Riolu told her with unfaltering seriousness.

But then an angry voice hollered from above. "You! Get outta my way if you know what's good for ya!"

They all looked up at the rocky cliff, protruding further the higher one looked. "That must be Cacturne!" Alesia exclaimed.

"We're coming to get you!" yelled Riolu.

Alesia bolted to the side to try and find a way up to the ledge. The surface was curved upward, similar to a helter-skelter but not as exact and consistent in how it skewed to the side, providing a way to reach the upper level. They all went up the sloping path and found a lump of rock with an opening, like a kind of miniature cave. "Maybe he's in there."

They all ran into the "cave", and sprinted forward, but screeched to a halt upon a loud scratching sound. Alesia squeaked from the unpleasant sound. "What was that?"

"Sounded like someone using Dragon Claw," Popplio guessed.

So they continued running until they reached the interior wall, then took a left, and were greeted with the sight of Cacturne, wearing a bowler hat.

However, he was lying feebly on the ground, with a Tyrunt in a bow tie and a Steenee with a ribbon on the right side of its calyx sternly looking over him. "You pesky kids… you ruined my hat… now I'm not gonna be able to get a refund on it…"

"I knew it!" exclaimed Popplio, and edged over to him and pointed a flipper in his face. "There'll be no hats where _you're_ going, mister crook!"

The Tyrunt saw the Popplio, and turned around to see an Eevee and a Riolu.

"Sorry to interrupt," Alesia said sheepishly.

"We were coming to apprehend this guy," Riolu explained. "But I see you already took care of it."

"You came all this way? We're sorry to have wasted your time…" the Steenee apologized.

"Guess it's time to head back home." Alesia turned around to leave, and her two teammates did the same, while the Steenee made a call using her badge telling the police that she and the Tyrunt had defeated the Cacturne so he could now be arrested.

Team Everlasting stepped outside the rocky cave and into the outside, where the sky was orange, nearly opposite to the blue sky from earlier that day when they had started their trek.

"Um, Riolu?" Popplio said as they traveled downward, making sure not to slip. "You're not mad, are you?"

"Mad? No! Not mad at all."

* * *

"Do you guys know how MAD I am?!" Riolu snapped at dinnertime that night while Alesia and Popplio sipped on their Gummi shakes. "We went all that way for nothing! That team screwed us over out of our rank increase! As if my day couldn't get ANY worse!"

"Mistakes happen," Popplio said simply. "It's not like Toucannon usually forgets to take–"

"New rule," Riolu harshly cut him off. "Everyone in Team Everlasting is to refer to Toucannon as 'birdbrain'. That duty-forgetting prick ruined…"

"Don't mind him," Popplio said to Alesia while Riolu continued his tirade about how unfair the world had been to him. "He's just a little mad right now."

* * *

 **A/N: I actually don't mind pineapple pizza. Okay, so it's not my favorite, but hey, it beats tuna and broccoli.**


	10. Competition

**A/N: If you haven't already, please refer to the note at the end of _A_ _Mutual_ _Cause_.**

* * *

That night, Tyrunt and Steenee were returning home to Kaia Town. After a walk of a few minutes through a forest, they emerged from the trees and set foot on the sandy ground of a small beach, linked by a sturdy wooden bridge to their home; a series of stone pathways. During the day, the town was far busier, with the numerous residents heading back and forth between the various shops and buildings. It wasn't completely deserted, however; there were still some Pokémon running their final errands for the day while lampposts shone brightly, only due to continue for an hour or so longer before they would be shut off for the night.

The two R.E.E.D. team members were happy to see they still had time to report to their superior about their completed mission. Heading into R.E.E.D. HQ, the largest building the town had, built in the likeness of a Seviper, they walked to the back where there was a circular desk carved in a spiral shape with flat glass on top.

"Ssssso, Team Guile," the Seviper behind the desk greeted the duo. "I've been given word about your sssssuccess today."

"Yes, sir," Tyrunt replied.

"Another team almost beat us by a few minutes," Steenee mentioned.

"Is that ssssso? Well, take that incccccident as a warning. Do not delay in future." He slithered out from behind the desk and stopped next to them. "In ssssspite of today's near-misssss, I think both of you are qualified to take on the Ranks Tournament."

The duo were pleasantly surprised. "Thank you, sir!" Steenee exclaimed.

"We won't disappoint, sir," Tyrunt assured him. "We'll wipe the floor with any and all of our opponents." He pounded his left fist into his right palm.

"Of courssssse, I'll have to find one more Pokémon to fill the remaining ssssspot. And one more thing." Seviper picked up a cardboard box with his tail and placed it onto the desk. "Your reward."

Tyrunt greedily grabbed the box and opened it. Inside were berries and seeds, plus some coins. It was a large reward in comparison to what he and Steenee usually received, owing to the important nature of apprehending a crook who had robbed banks, terrified innocents, and returned already-worn clothes for a full refund.

Steenee read the note from the Ice Continent Police Force, thanking Team Guile for their assistance.

* * *

Team Everlasting were up and about a little later than usual that morning. Riolu hadn't cheered up too much after yesterday's failure, but it wasn't _impossible_ to be around him. He'd long since finished his rant, after all.

In the midst of surveying the bulletin board, Braviary called out to them from across the village, wanting a talk in his office.

The three team members sat down before Braviary did the same. "Do any of you know what the Ranks Tournament is?"

Obviously, Alesia turned up a blank, but less obviously, so did Riolu.

"It's a tournament held annually where three Pokémon who are members of R.E.E.D. teams from different towns and villages compete in battles!" Popplio answered. "Also, it's in the Magma Continent this year."

"That is correct," Braviary clarified. "You do seem to have educated yourself, boy, I must say."

"Well, actually, I can see it up there." Popplio pointed at the wall behind Braviary, who turned around to look. There was a poster written in a different language, detailing the Ranks Tournament.

As interested as Braviary was in knowing just how Popplio could read that, he chose to remain on topic. "Every year, the International R.E.E.D. Bureau hosts it. Not only has it served as an important form of entertainment for over a hundred and fifty years now, and brought in a massive amount of revenue, it serves as a way for the public to determine which teams they can put their trust in when it comes to defeating dangerous outlaws or otherwise protecting society. While my brother was running the village in my absence, I was helping with preparations," he informed them, facing back to them. "And when I returned and found we had a R.E.E.D. team of our very own, I was overjoyed! We're finally eligible to compete!"

Alesia wasn't as overjoyed as Braviary claimed to have been. Going by Popplio's description, she imagined getting flung around like a ragdoll, trading her teeth for cuts and bruises all over. Would Braviary still be so eager to enter her if he knew what was truly going on with her?

Riolu jumped forward in excitement. "When is it?"

"Exactly three weeks from this very date," Braviary told him. "However… there is one more thing."

Riolu's happiness wavered. "What?"

"All competitors must be of Gold Rank or higher."

"And we're not even Silver." Knowing this, Riolu was liable to return to being an insufferable grump about yesterday.

"It's only three weeks away," Popplio reminded him. "That's plenty of time for us to rise in rank!"

"Then make haste!" Braviary instructed them, happily rising with his wing spread out to the door. "You've proven yourselves to be brave and capable so many times already. I know you can do it!"

* * *

 **A/N: The part in cynsh's review stating that R.E.E.D. teams don't get enough exposition inspired the subject matter of this chapter, which I was also able to tie in with a buildup of coming events.**

 **Also, the new starters are** **not very good in my opinion.**


	11. Flygon with the Wind

If Team Everlasting were going to reach Gold Rank in the somewhat short time they had, they would need to work hard at gaining points for completing jobs.

"Let's see if the bulletin board has anything new!" Popplio stood in front of it and put on a pair of reading glasses.

"I didn't know you needed reading glasses," Alesia commented, noting this was the first time he had worn them. "Do you have trouble reading normally?"

"Nope!" said Popplio. "But now I'm in hyper-reading mode!"

"But…" Alesia trailed off, then shook her head. "Riolu, wanna help choose a job?"

There was no answer.

Alesia turned around to see Riolu hadn't followed them to the bulletin board. But shortly thereafter, he came running out of Braviary's courthouse. "I found out the name of that other team," he reported. "They're a Tyrunt and a Steenee, they're from Kaia Town, and they form Team Guile. I'm gonna go there personally and cheat _them_ out of _their_ job!"

"But…" Alesia groaned as Riolu scurried away. "Idiot."

Popplio, meanwhile, had used his reading glasses to spot some paper just barely visible inside the gap between three posters. He tore off the offending three posters to reach the one nestled within. "Lookie here what I found!"

"That's great, Popplio," said Alesia, "but it needs to be something we can handle by ourselves without Riolu."

Popplio read the poster: "This Raichu needs someone to go rescue her Bagon friend from Marble Cavern. And we know that place!"

"Then let's do it!"

"Yippee!" Popplio folded up the poster and placed it into his satchel.

After their usual process of making sure they had everything they needed, they headed off together. "Is Riolu always that much of a jerk?" she asked Popplio. For all his weirdness, she found him more pleasant and tolerable to be around than their leader.

"Well… no," Popplio decided. "But he just wants to make sure our team is reliable and competent."

"The way he's acting, you'd think he cares more about personal image than actually doing the right thing."

"Well, you know what they say," Popplio began. "When you see a Giratina crying because he only has raisin cookies, buy him chocolate chip ones and give him a hug."

Alesia blinked. "...That's a saying?" she asked, not having had the experience in this world to know for sure but still fairly convinced that this was just another instance of Popplio's kookiness.

"It is now!"

* * *

Riolu was holding on tightly to the Flygon in the air. About twenty minutes prior, he had been waiting in front of Rusted Complex for the Flygon to arrive. He would have had to pay the Pokémon a set amount of Poké for its services, but flashing his badge had given him a significant discount, and then it had lifted off the ground and was now soaring above through the clouds with three passengers in tow.

"Attention! We are now reaching our destination," the Flygon chirped.

Still holding on tight, Riolu peered over and forward as far as the thick rope tightly fastened around him and the Flygon's body, and looked down to see the bustling locale called Kaia Town. From this high above, the Pokémon inhabiting the town looked like mere specks. Viewed from below in more detail, they conversed about the weather, recent events, how the R.E.E.D. teams here were doing, while vendors conducted transactions over their market stalls and groups of Lapras floated to and away from the shore, some with Pokémon on their backs and others with boxes of items, delicately carried from other places so as not to damage them before the vendors could make use of their stock.

The Flygon descended fully onto the shore beside the thick expanse of trees, and Riolu and the other two untied their ropes and hopped off.

Riolu made a beeline for the stone pathway that bled into the sand, then had to make his way past Pokémon who either walked through or lingered in the pathway. While he managed to avoid most of them, some of them were knocked to the side, but Riolu didn't particularly care to stop and apologize.

After getting directions to the location of jobs for R.E.E.D. teams to take on, he was pointed in the direction of a bulletin board. With a gold-plated metal frame and a surface with red furnishings, it stood tall and proud, unlike its equivalent in Izolo Village, which was constructed out of planks of wood of irregular lengths.

And the most important detail? A Tyrunt was currently examining the board. Secretly observing from a meter or so away, Riolu watched as the Tyrunt tore a slip of paper from the board, clutched it in his claws, and walked over to the right. Riolu followed him, and eventually they both reached a Steenee, counting her supplies in a bag. ' _Jackpot,'_ thought Riolu, then strained to hear their conversation over the non-stop incomprehensible sound of the combined conversations of the several other residents.

"We're going to Cutthroat Maze," the Tyrunt told the Steenee. "There's a Furret trapped inside."

Riolu didn't even stop to think about whether going in there was a good idea. The moment he had all the information he needed, he ran away to beat the other two there.

This had the unintended side effect of making the other two notice a Pokémon abruptly running. Before, he had gone unnoticed simply by remaining still, but the sudden jolt of motion had gotten the Tyrunt and Steenee to turn their heads in its direction. They didn't pay it too much mind, however, and soon forgot about this, for all intents and purposes, insignificant event.

Riolu was out of breath by the time he reached the shore. Panting, he looked up and waved at a waiting Lapras, who then floated over to him on the water and paused to take in his appearance. "Riolu?"

Riolu finished his panting and made eye contact with the Lapras. "Lapras?" Ever since he and Popplio had had to evacuate their original home, they'd never expected to see this particular old friend again. But yet, here was that same Lapras in front of Riolu. "It's you!"

"Yes, and it's you," said Lapras, equally surprised at the sight of whom he recognized as one of his childhood friends. "What brings you here?"

"I have to take on a job in Cutthroat Maze," he answered, as if he already knew just what Cutthroat Maze was, and neglected to state why he was here to take on a job instead of simply taking a job from Izolo Village that would have worked just as well.

"Alright," Lapras decided, and rotated on the water for Riolu to clamber onto his back. "That'll be 150 Poké, please. I wish I didn't have to charge you, but I'd be in trouble with Seviper if I failed to do so."

"Eh, don't sweat it." Riolu opened up the bag they had received as part of their R.E.E.D. team kit. It had never been used up until this point, but Riolu had taken it with him and stored seeds, berries, and Poké inside. He took out the required amount of Poké and gave it to the Ambipom on duty. Then, the journey was underway.

"Why isn't Popplio with you?" asked Lapras.

"Uh, he and the Eevee we recruited didn't want to come." That wasn't technically a lie. After all, Alesia and Popplio weren't so desperate to protect their egos as to come here with the sole purpose of doing another team's job before they could.

Lapras nodded. "You know, it's pretty dangerous in there, especially for one Pokémon."

Riolu dismissed his concerns with a wave of his paw. "It'll be fine."

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter, we'll learn some more about Riolu and Popplio's backstory.**


	12. Second Interlude

"Go on, keep going!" cheered Riolu, looking up.

Today, in the peace and tranquility of Nispet Village, Riolu and Popplio were completing their self-imposed training. From a young age, shortly after becoming friends, as they had been for years, they'd dreamed of forming their own R.E.E.D. team, helping others in distress.

At the moment, Popplio was climbing a ladder he and Riolu had built as a D.I.Y. project. Riolu had gotten the hang of climbing rather quickly, but Popplio had an obvious disadvantage in the absence of legs. That was nothing he couldn't overcome, however, as years of perseverance had gotten his moving speed up to par with Riolu, far beyond that of an average, untrained Pokémon without legs. And he preferred to look on the bright side of things anyway; at least he could never be arrested for jaywalking.

Popplio finished climbing and hopped down from the base of the ladder, and Riolu checked his stopwatch. "You beat your previous time by two seconds!" he told his friend.

Popplio folded his flippers proudly. "Just another day in the life of Team…" His mind drew a blank. "Actually, what _are_ we gonna call ourselves?"

"Not sure." They still hadn't yet decided on the perfect name. Since Riolu would be listed as the leader of the team, Popplio had once suggested "Riolu's Enforcers", but Riolu hadn't wanted to have his name exclusively without his best friend's name there too. It was long enough that fitting the entire name on a team badge would be a pain, in any case, and as Popplio had realized, it lacked alliteration.

"But what I _am_ sure of," Riolu continued, "is that you and I are ready."

Popplio let out a gasp as his mouth hung open in joy and his eyes sparkled. "For real…?"

"Yep. For real."

Popplio shrieked in excitement and performed his happy dance, consisting of planting his flippers flat on the ground while he jumped up and down and each time he did so, his tail alternated between being in front of him and behind him.

* * *

They only wished, however, that their parents felt similarly.

"Absolutely not, boy," a Toxicroak told Riolu at home later that evening.

"But Dad!" Riolu protested. "Popplio and I have been working so hard! We'd totally make it out there!"

"We've already talked to you about this a long time ago," a Lucario backed her husband up. "Leaving home and trying to make it on your own? You're still a child, Riolu. You don't understand how dangerous the world really is out there. And besides, do you really believe that bizarre Popplio friend of yours would help?"

"What would YOU know?!" Riolu yelled at them, incensed at the insult to his most beloved and trusted companion. "You've never supported us in what we want to do, and you think taking the slightest of risks is a bad thing! Because you're both _cowardly!_ "

"That's ENOUGH!" His father slammed his hands on the table. "To your room, mister!"

"With pleasure!" Riolu yelled back as he stormed upstairs.

Even if his parents were looking out for his well-being, they were far from qualified to judge what really was good for Riolu, as far as he was concerned. He'd long since given up on trying to have a peaceful relationship with them, as their opposing outlooks on life beyond this quiet village wouldn't allow it. But Riolu certainly wasn't about to give up on his dreams.

* * *

Popplio lay in bed that night, his eyes wide open, as the conversation with his parents was still fresh in his mind.

His mother had laughed when he had told her he was ready to leave. "Silly boy, you couldn't even help carry a bucket, let alone help others!" she had said jovially, the dissonance in her tone and words evident only to Popplio; to her and her husband, it had made perfect sense.

"But I _can!_ " Popplio had tried to defend himself.

"Now, now, Popplio," his father had shushed him. "You already know what your future is. You're going to realize you can't do what you think you can, and then you're going to stay in here where you can't cause trouble for the outside world with your ridiculous fantasies."

Popplio had lacked the energy to do anything besides silently nod — though he disagreed with everything the Primarina and Poliwrath had told him not only tonight, but throughout his entire life.

He would have lay there in bed for hours, sleeplessly, if his self-pitying hadn't been interrupted by a tap on the bedroom window. Startled, he turned to look and see Riolu's face peering through at him. Instantly, Popplio was filled with happiness at the sight of his friend. "Riolu!"

Popplio got out of bed and opened the window — it opened inward — to let Riolu in.

"Popplio, we're getting out of this place," Riolu told him firmly, years of loathing for this village evident in his tone.

"But… but they'll send a search party after us," Popplio pointed out, seeing the idea as outrageous.

"They'd never find us." Riolu unfolded his map and pointed to a spot on it. Popplio examined it closely, and found a small area where Riolu was indicating.

"That's Izolo Village," he said. "We can set up our team base there. It's way too remote for anyone to find us."

"We'll never see this place again…" Popplio knew full well that they'd never be able to set foot in this village again. At least if their parents were on board with the idea of the duo leaving, they'd have been able to come back and visit.

"I am completely okay with that." Riolu felt not a tinge of sorrow for leaving this place behind. "But I can't go without you, and I definitely can't leave you alone here either. That wouldn't be good for either of us in the long run." Riolu had secretly always wanted to deliver some kind of punishment to Popplio's parents for mistreating him all these years. Not that Popplio wasn't decent at coping with it, however. The attempts to break his self-worth happened behind closed doors, but Riolu believed every word of what Popplio claimed his parents had said to him.

Popplio just held his flippers to his head, overcome with the dilemma. But ultimately, he looked back up at Riolu. "Okay."

So he followed Riolu out of the window and they both slowly descended down using the rope. Popplio pulled the rope back down and put it into his satchel.

This late at night, when no lights were still turned on, it was easy for them to evade detection. However, this was a double-edged sword, as they had to put extra effort into finding their way through the dark. Nonetheless, they made their way away from the white brick houses with straw roofs, and headed for the rocky shore.

"Hey, doesn't Lapras come around this time?" Popplio remembered.

"That's correct, and also part of my plan," Riolu answered, and turned to look at the water, deeper the further away it was from the shore.

Before Popplio could ask how, he made out something in the darkness drawing closer. It was a light in the distance."Hey! Lapras!"

"Popplio?" True to his word, it was a Lapras, a lamp adorning his head, who floated closer to them, and made out Popplio next to Riolu. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We need to ask a favor of you," said Riolu. "Can you take us to Kaia Town?"

"Why do you want to go this late at night?" asked Lapras. "It's miles away."

Riolu decided their friend deserved the truth. "Because we're forming our R.E.E.D. team and we need to be as far away as possible from here so our parents can't find us."

Lapras was shocked. He'd known Riolu to be somewhat headstrong, but running away from home without warning and taking Popplio with him was on a whole new level.

"We'll pay you if you want," Riolu offered. "We have—"

"No. Don't worry about that," Lapras said. "I'll help you."

"You will? Thank you, thank you so much!" Popplio cried gratefully.

"You're a good friend," Riolu said, smiling. Being a few years older than Riolu and Popplio, Lapras had left the village a couple of years back to pursue a career of water transportation. While Riolu was admittedly rather put out, Popplio had made no effort to hide his devastation at losing a friend. The monthly visits Lapras made helped offset their sadness, however.

Now, though, they were asking something far bigger of him, and knowing what their home lives were like and how much dedication they had shown to their dreams, how could he possibly refuse?

Riolu and Popplio got onto Lapras' back, and he carried them away from the shore, away from Nispet Village… leaving that place behind was cathartic to them, now that they were finally free.

* * *

The journey was several hours long. All three of them fought to stay awake, and succeeded. They crossed miles upon miles of water, seeing the Pokémon beneath the surface, and occasionally passing rocks and bluffs. During their journey, the moonlight shone down upon them, until it disappeared and the sky gradually became a pinkish orange color.

Riolu and Popplio had known little else besides their home. Seeing the water surrounding them that went on forever made it sink in exactly what the two of them had done. Granted, part of Popplio's training had included swimming increasing lengths, and outside of training, swimming and water acrobatics were two of his favorite pastimes. But he'd never gone so far out as to be unable to see the shore belonging to Nispet Village. And yet, here they were, so far out that neither he nor Riolu could tell exactly which way led back to that village.

They saw silhouettes of buildings on the land they were approaching, much to their joy. There were only a few lights on at this time of morning, so it wasn't until they reached the sandy shore of Kaia Town that they were able to fully observe.

"Th… thank you for this," Riolu tiredly told Lapras as he and Popplio got off.

"Yeah…" Popplio agreed. "You won't tell anyone?"

"I swear I won't," said Lapras.

When Riolu and Popplio stepped off the shore and up the stony steps, they looked all around at the interconnecting pathways and buildings.

"It's a shame we're not setting up base here," Popplio remarked, liking the sight of such a developed community.

"Guess so." Riolu checked a sign hanging from a small, two-storey house. " _Shuckle's Inn,_ " he read aloud, but wearily.

He tried to open the door, but of course, it was locked. He tapped the door, and his calls were answered by, as you may have guessed, unless the whole "Gallade runs Wobbuffet Dojo" thing back in Chapter 4 made you suspicious, a Shuckle. "What are you doing here?!" he snapped, rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry to bother you," said Popplio, knowing how tired the inn owner must have been, since he and Riolu were in the same state, "but we need a place to stay. Do you have any rooms available?"

The Shuckle was angry at having his sleep interrupted well past the time of evening he stopped accepting new guests, but figured that since he had already been woken up and there was an empty room available, there was no reason not to let them in. So he angrily snatched the Poké he was given and showed them to their room. The friends apologized, thanked him, and got into the two beds inside, and instantaneously drifted off.

* * *

The next morning, after Riolu and Popplio woke up, they opted to lie in bed a little while longer, in great need of it after the events of last night and early the following morning.

Their lie-in was cut short beginning with the sound of a key turning. They didn't have time to think about the noise before the door swung open to reveal Shuckle. "Up! Get up! Your stay is over!"

Riolu leaned over to look at him, and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, geez."

He and Popplio grabbed their satchel and left the inn quickly, not wanting to stick around much longer and risk provoking the Shuckle's ire further.

Riolu checked a poster on the wall of a building made to look like the head of a Seviper. It was the schedule for air transportation.

"A Flygon will be coming by in an hour," Riolu said. "It's heading for Sweeping Rapids, and from there we can walk to Izolo Village."

They passed the hour by making idle conversation and eating a breakfast of inexpensive berries and seeds. Sure enough, a Flygon descended onto the shore of Kaia Town.

The flight was mercifully shorter than the ride on Lapras. Surrounded by water, Kaia Town didn't seem so big from up high.

The flight ended with Flygon slowing down and descending, making a landing near the yellow, rocky mountain called Sweeping Rapids, complete with waterfalls.

* * *

Riolu and Popplio's final journey was exhausting. Without the aid of Lapras or Flygon, they had to reach Izolo Village by foot — or by flipper, in Popplio's case.

There was an abundance of trees in one spot, and one spot only. A yellow pathway lead into them, and outside the forest of trees was a cave, made up of dark blue rock.

A walk on the yellow pathway through the trees lead them to what must have been Izolo Village. The structures were fascinating to behold; they were built to resemble the heads of different Pokémon. Kaia Town had also had some of these, but only a few; the vast majority of buildings there had nothing particularly remarkable about them. Here, though, it appeared that nearly half of them were flowing with artistic merit.

"We're finally here," Popplio said quietly but happily.

"And now that we're here..." Riolu put a paw to his mouth and yawned. "...Let's see about getting a place to stay." Riolu walked to the house made to look like a Braviary. It was the biggest and tallest out of all of the buildings here, so presumably, the Braviary living inside was in charge of the village.

* * *

"Hello?"

The Braviary sitting at the desk looked up. "Can I help you?" he asked, not recognizing either of them.

What struck both Riolu and Popplio as odd was that the house was painted in the colors of a common Braviary, yet the one sitting at the desk was one of those rare cases of a Pokémon having an entirely different set of colors; this one was light blue and brown as opposed to red and dark blue, but it would be rude to ask about that.

"Could we buy some land?" asked Riolu.

"Certainly," the Braviary answered. "Or if you're a team in need of somewhere to set up base, it's free."

"Really?" Popplio raised his eyebrows in surprise at the news. "Well, we _do_ want to form a team, but we haven't picked a name. If we buy the land and _then_ form our team, can we get a refund?"

The Braviary nodded. "Yes, that is an option."

So they paid the 10,000 Poké they had saved up — the most they'd ever paid since the Technical Machines for Focus Blast and Moonblast — and rented two shovels from the Kecleon shop. They wouldn't have been able to afford all this if they hadn't been saving for years, doing odd jobs in and around Nispet Village.

* * *

Riolu and Popplio worked around the clock to dig a wide, deep hole in the ground, leaving a staircase-shaped mound of earth to cover with wood, as with the floor. They stopped for a rest every so often and took it in turns to take a wheelbarrow full of earth away to dispose of in the woods surrounding the village. The sun had set by the time they were finished.

Next up, making their beds. In a rather literal sense. They referred to a list of instructions to build two beds out of straw. They each made one for themselves, and discovered there was just enough straw left over to make a third bed. This created more work for them, of course, but the material they'd paid good money for would've gone to waste otherwise.

"I'm up for an early night's rest before we do anything else…" Riolu had an excellent work ethic, but even he had his limits. Popplio was wont to agree.

"Riolu?" he said as they lay down on their respective new beds. "Can we check out that cave tomorrow?"

"Well, we can't take proper missions until we're officially a R.E.E.D. team." Riolu shrugged. "Sure."

Their adventures would be plentiful, and their friendship would be everlasting.


	13. A Chapter that is Very Legitimate

**A/N: This is an alternate reality non-canon chapter that has no bearing on the rest of the story. If you are not interested and want to continue the actual plot, skip this chapter.**

* * *

Wiggly Wonka's chocolate factory stood proudly. The centerpiece was a brick dome, painted pink, white, and black in the likeness of a Wigglytuff and surrounded by funnels spouting steam. A crowd of Pokemon were gathered together, looking as best as they could at the factory from behind the fancy black gates. Amongst the crowd, a Steenee, a Tyrunt, an Eevee, a Riolu, and a Popplio each clutched tightly onto a shimmering slip of paper.

"Everyone got their Golden Ticket?" the Eevee asked, looking to the Riolu and Popplio.

"Not 'Golden Ticket', Alesia, just 'Gold Ticket'," Riolu corrected her, and held up his slip of golden paper, sure enough adorned with "Gold Ticket" in black font. Popplio did the same with his own.

The doors, so far away from behind the gates, opened, prompting the entire crowd to go silent. Stood in the doorway, a Wigglytuff with an orangey-brown top hat on his head held a long cane and wore a purple jacket over a shirt with a pattern of both normal and Shiny Jigglypuff, and to finish it all off, an oversized beige bow tie.

Everyone watched silently as the Wigglytuff — famous explorer and chocolatier — walked down the steps and toward the gates, on a red carpet laid over the brick ground. After perhaps half a minute of slow walking, he came to a stop and just… stood there, faintly inhaling and exhaling.

A Chatot bounced over and gently tapped his wing on Wigglytuff, who then abruptly sprung to life. "Welcome, friends, to my chocolate factory!"

"Did you enjoy the honorable Wiggly Wonka's pretending-to-be-asleep-with-his-eyes-open trick?" Chatot asked the audience in an attempt to save face.

"Now do come along, friends! We've no time to waste!" Wigglytuff turned around and led the way back to the factory. Chatot followed him hastily, and the five Gold Ticket holders enthusiastically followed.

They walked up the steps into the doorway of the factory.

* * *

"Now," Wigglytuff said to the five as they walked through the corridor. "Please take off your garments."

So Steenee removed the Choice Ribbon from her calyx, and Tyrunt did the same with his Lucky Ribbon. Riolu removed his Power Band, Alesia removed her Joy Ribbon, and Popplio took off his Special Band. They each hung their items up on the hooks, painted gold and shaped like the open claw of a Corphish. One, however, was the normal red and white colors.

"Mr. Wonka, sir?" Popplio said. "Why is this one red and white when the rest of them are gold?"

Wigglytuff glanced over, and Chatot whirled his head around in shock at the news. He hopped over and quickly gave the claw a smack with his wing. "Corphish! You were supposed to paint your claw gold to match the hooks!"

"Hey, hey! Sorry!" said a voice from behind the wall.

Chatot turned to Popplio. "Feel free to place your scarf onto the hook."

Popplio shook his head. "No thanks."

"Well, I can't let my guests feel uncomfortable," Wigglytuff stated. "You'll have to do it for him, Chatot."

"But… I…" Chatot decided not to argue, and instead took Popplio's Special Band to place on the hook. He tried to be as fast as possible, but wasn't quite fast enough and his wing was promptly squeezed between the two halves of the claw, causing him to squawk in pain until it was let go, at which point he rubbed the hurt area with his other wing.

"And now I have a contract for you all to sign!"

Wigglytuff gestured to… an empty board on the wall. But then, the hallway was filled with the loud noise of sirens.

Before anyone had a chance to ask what was going on, the board flipped around to reveal a large sheet of paper with text on it that became smaller and smaller the further down it was.

Wigglytuff plucked a feather out of Chatot, who squawked in pain for the second time that day. He dipped the sharp point of the feather into a pot of ink and held it up for a member of the group to accept.

"But it's unreadable," Alesia pointed out. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I can't sign this."

"In that case," Chatot told her, "we must ask you to leave."

Steenee hesitantly accepted the feather and stood in front of the contract, wondering whether signing would be a good idea.

"Gimme that!" Tyrunt snapped impatiently, and knocked Steenee over and grabbed the feather. He signed the contract, followed by Riolu. Steenee felt as pressured as ever to sign, so did just that, and then a reluctant Alesia was next to sign it, and finally, Popplio.

"All signed? Good! Let's press on!" Wigglytuff lead them through a narrower passageway, at the end of which was a circular door, shaped like a grate with a pattern of square holes, filled with glass.

He inserted a key and turned it, and the door opened.

Everyone entered, and Wigglytuff closed the door behind them. Somehow, the interior of the room appeared to be that of a cave, or at least was a pretty damn good imitation of the inside of a cave.

From behind the walls, a Gabite appeared. It bared its teeth at the group and growled, and from behind it, a Weavile leapt over the Gabite, scratching the air as if to threaten to do so to them.

The ground started rumbling, and everyone found it hard to keep their footing as a deep noise reverberated through the cave. From out of the ground burst an Onix, spraying pieces of rock everywhere. It stared directly at the seven new members of the room, and opened its maw wide to howl and screech at them.

"What is this, some kind of monster house?!" Alesia yelled in fear.

Chatot whirled around and grabbed the door. He hastily forced it open… and the five Gold Ticket finders trampled him as they ran out to escape. Just when he thought it was done, Wigglytuff calmly walked over him, failing to even spot him.

Fear was wrought into his heart by the second loud screech of the Onix. He got up and rushed out, closing the door behind him just in time to stop the Onix.

There was a loud noise of the Onix hitting the door, but after that, there was silence, with no indication that the room had ever been there. They were now all in a corridor with several doors on both sides.

"But we just came in through this door," Riolu pointed out, uncharacteristically shaken and quiet.

"That's it! Let me out!" Alesia demanded.

"Ah, but you have to continue for that," Wigglytuff informed her. "The only way back is forward!"

He pressed forward. What was noticeable was that the corridor appeared to be narrower the further Wigglytuff trudged. This fact hadn't been immediately evident thanks to the angle from which the rest of the group were looking at it.

Now crouched to fit the end of the room, Wigglytuff turned around. "My dear friends, you are now about to witness the best room in the factory. Inside this room, hopes and dreams and fantasies become realities. Oh, and you can taste most things in here. But not the rocks. And not the windows either."

"Guildmaster," Chatot whispered. "I fear you might be spoiling the next room."

"Quite right." Wigglytuff stopped his description. "Chatot will unlock it for you all to see for yourselves!"

Chatot sang three notes, paused briefly, then sang six more notes.

Popplio sniffled. "That song seems sad…"

"Shh, shh," Wigglytuff gently soothed him. "It's over now, the door's unlocked."

"How're we supposed to fit through that?" Riolu's question was far from unreasonable. The door looked like it would only fit a Dunsparce, and even that seemed generous.

But when Wigglytuff pushed the door, the entire wall opened. Everyone was able to get through, and they were greeted with a truly breathtaking sight.

"I give you… the Chocolate Room."

The green pasture barely showed itself through the colors that littered the room. Bushes of berries and seeds and trees of fruit were hardly an uncommon sight, but there were several types of candies hanging from vines. Lollipops were stuck into the ground, and the centerpiece of the room was a flowing brown river. The brown, frothy substance flowed down the rocky cliff like a waterfall and into the river. Moss and fruits clung to the rocky cliff.

"Hold your breath," Wigglytuff told them. "Make a wish. Count to three. Smiles go for miles."

 _Come with me_

 _And you'll be_

 _In a world of dungeon exploration_

 _Take a look_

 _And you'll see_

 _Your place of exploration_

Wigglytuff lead the group down the stairs, taking a step back up at one point but then resuming the walk downward.

 _We'll begin_

 _With a spin_

 _Traveling in the room of operation_

 _What we'll see_

 _Will defy_

 _Regulation_

That much was true. There was no way this factory was compliant with the laws on building safety, the most telling evidence of which was the contract and the near-death experience in the cave. Nonetheless, the group followed him down the stairs (again, with a few steps back up).

 _If you want to view paradise_

 _Simply look around and view it_

 _Anything you want to, do it_

 _Want to form a team?_

 _There's nothing to it_

Wigglytuff lead them all down the final set of stairs, and now they could observe the chocolate room in all its glory. Not wasting any time, the group all separated from each other as they hurried to sample the room's offerings.

 _There is no life I know_

 _To compare with dungeon exploration_

 _Doing that_

 _You'll be free_

 _If you truly wish to be_

Popplio was munching on a candy cane while Alesia was eating some regular-sized Gummis. With a whack of his cane, Wigglytuff made some giant-sized Gummis fall from the tree above her. Alesia pounced on one and started on that. Tyrunt grabbed an enormous piece of hard candy and smashed it open on a rock so he could reach in and eat the sticky, juicy, fruit-flavored goo inside. Wigglytuff walked past Riolu attempting to jump high enough to pick the contents from a gobstopper tree, and hit the tree with his cane to make numerous gobstoppers rain down, which Riolu hastily picked up several at a time. Sat next to a berry bush, Steenee grabbed one and gorged on it.

 _If you want to view paradise_

 _Simply look around and view it_

 _Anything you want to, do it_

 _Want to form a team?_

 _There's nothing to it_

Wigglytuff sat down and picked a buttercup flower from the ground.

 _There is no life I know_

 _To compare with dungeon exploration_

 _Doing that_

 _You'll be free_

 _If you truly wish to be_

He sipped the sweet liquid from the flower, then took a bite out of it. He realized too late that this particular item was made of wax and for display only, and spat it out in disgust. Abandoning the "treat", he got up and walked over to the brown river, and used his cane to gesture to the rest of the group to come over.

They went to the river and looked down at it. "That's chocolate?" asked Alesia uncertainly, having trust issues in this place.

Popplio licked his lips. "That's chocolate…"

"See that waterfall?" Wigglytuff pointed at the stream of chocolate rushing down. Glass pipes penetrated the surface. "That waterfall is actually mixing and churning the chocolate. No other factory in the world does it this way, but you have to if you want it perfect."

Riolu looked across the river and saw two Pokémon, specifically a Loudred and a Sunflora. "Those must be two of your employees, right, Mr. Wonka?"

"Recruits!" Wigglytuff corrected. "They venture out with me and we hunt for the perfect ingredients."

The Loudred and Sunflora were carrying metal objects. The Loudred fetched a wheelbarrow while the Sunflora held a metal slide from the ledge she was standing on. Industrial sacks of sugar were rested against the cliff and on the ground.

Tyrunt, meanwhile, looked around for any sight of his partner, then saw her directly next to the chocolate river, leaning over it. There she was, dipping one of the huge leaves on her head into the river to fill with chocolate for her to drink. "Hey!" he yelled as he ran over. "Save some for me!"

Wigglytuff was equally distressed at the sight… but for slightly different reasons. "Steenee! Please, don't do that!" he called as he ran over. "My chocolate must be untouched by outsiders!"

Steenee was too engulfed in the bliss of drinking the seemingly endless supply of chocolate to be snapped out of her trance by either of them. Something did happen to cause that, though… she shrieked as she tumbled over off the grassy ledge and into the chocolate, and she then rose up above the surface gasping for air.

"No! My chocolate! My beautiful chocolate!" Wigglytuff cried in sorrow and horror.

"Hold on, Steenee!" Popplio dived into the river and adeptly swam over to Steenee and grabbed onto her to pull her to the surface… but then the two of them got sucked beneath. Popplio couldn't pull her away and was forced to let go and swim back to the surface. He was able to beat the sucking force, but Steenee didn't stand a chance.

"Where'd she go?" asked Alesia, frightened.

Her question was answered by the sight of Steenee compressed tightly in a glass pipe, making muffled cries for help.

"She won't stay stuck in there for long," Chatot said. "The pressure is building up behind her."

A few moments later, the time was ripe to send her shooting up the pipe. She darted up suddenly, and was gone from view when she went through the ceiling via the pipe.

Alesia had a chilling thought. "She's gonna get turned into chocolate chip Four-Leaf Cookies!"

"Impossible, my dear friend! Unthinkable!" Wigglytuff exclaimed.

"How can you be sure?!" Alesia cried.

"Because that pipe doesn't go to the chocolate chip Four-Leaf Cookie room, it goes to the chocolate-covered Perfect Apple room!"

"And do you really think that's what would happen?" Riolu asked Alesia pointedly. "If anything, she'd just get burnt to death or chopped to bits and then the cookies would have bits of Steenee flesh in them. And leaves too, I guess?" He'd never been sure whether the leaves on Grass-types were actual leaves or flesh with the appearance of leaves.

"Chatot, please get assistance," Wigglytuff requested of his right-hand Pokémon.

So Chatot sang an upbeat tune, eighteen beats, which summoned Loudred.

"We urgently need you to retrieve Steenee from the chocolate-covered Perfect Apple room before she contaminates the chocolate and apples too much!" said Wigglytuff, whose priorities were entirely straight as far as he was concerned.

"SIR, YES SIR!" Loudred shouted, making the others in the room wince. "DOES HER PARTNER WANT TO COME?" he asked, pointing at Tyrunt.

"Nah. She made her bed, now she can lie in it," Tyrunt declined, as if he hadn't intended to drink from the river himself.

Loudred walked out, following the pathway.

"We will now ride the Plazania!" Upon Wigglytuff's declaration, out of the tunnel emerged a long, blue object. A sturdy raft, with an oversized head of a Piplup on the front. There were six seats in two columns of three.

"It's… bahut sundar," Popplio remarked as they all got aboard. He and Riolu sat next to each other in the middle row while Alesia and Tyrunt opted for the back row.

But after she had sat down, joining the other five, Alesia had another thought. "Mr. Wonka?" she began. "Why are there exactly enough seats only for us? Why isn't there a seat for Steenee?"

"All questions must be submitted in writing," Wigglytuff simply told her.

With that, the boat began to float forward. Inch by inch, it was slowly overcome with darkness as it entered the tunnel until everything and everyone was engulfed.

* * *

The boat increased in speed through the darkness of the tunnel. There were rings of light on the walls, and the boat, along with all of its riders, passed through the rings.

"LET ME OFF!" shrieked Alesia.

Soon enough, everyone but Wigglytuff shared her sentiments. The tunnel flashed with red light as they sped through, unable to leave nor do anything but endure the ride as they expressed their panic in a mishmash of voices.

"We can't see where we're going!" Riolu shouted.

"Silly, of course not! That's what makes it fun!" Wigglytuff happily replied.

A vision flashed before Riolu. That of a badge shattering into pieces, formerly identical to the badge a R.E.E.D. team such as Team Everlasting had until it had been destroyed beyond repair. "Seriously, stop the boat!"

Popplio briefly saw himself all alone, abandoned, with a Riolu and an Eevee walking away from him in separate directions. "Stop! Stop, please!" he burst out, on the verge of tears.

Alesia had an unpleasant vision of a pile of ashes, with a Joy Ribbon on top. It was not difficult for her to know what that symbolized, and it was a very legitimate fear of hers since she didn't feel totally confident in this world even without this mysterious factory.

"Stop the boat!" Wigglytuff commanded. "...No, nonono wait—"

There was darkness. Before, they could see, but now no one could. At the same time the darkness flooded the room out of nowhere, the momentum of the boat simply ceased to exist.

After a second, the light returned. The boat was at a standstill inside the tunnel, but the horrifying visions and bizarre lights were gone.

"I forgot about that song I prepared…" Wigglytuff lamented, his lips quivering.

"Never mind, Guildmaster," Chatot comforted him as he evacuated the boat. "We must proceed with the tour anyhow."

Wigglytuff hopped onto a stony pathway next to the chocolate river and tapped a door. "Here we have the Inventing Room!" He swung it open, allowing everyone inside.

The Inventing Room rivaled even the Chocolate Room in complexity. Pots of varying sizes and metals brewed and billowed with smoke and steam, conveyors on the ceiling delivered items to and fro, pipes and tubes were on the ground and ceiling, and while the machinery did its job, sounds of whistles and cogs turning filled the atmosphere. Colorful drapes concealed objects that only authorized personnel were to see. Alesia considered it like a stereotypical exaggerated depiction of a science laboratory.

"What do you think, friends?" asked Wigglytuff, gesturing all around.

Riolu picked up a piece of candy from a bowl. It was called Exploding Candy. He wasn't so sure if he wanted to eat it. "Hey," he told Chatot. "You eat this so I can see if it's okay."

"Me?!" Chatot panicked and flapped his wings.

"Yes, you!" Wigglytuff agreed. "We must keep our guests comfortable."

Chatot trembled as he accepted the piece of candy, then slowly brought it up to his beak. He popped it in and chewed it.

A _BANG!_ noise thundered through the room, like a bullet from a gun. Chatot was thrown back from the blast like a ragdoll. He hit some apparatus, sending metal objects and parts clattering all over the place, along with some of Chatot's feathers. The pupils in his eyes turned to swirls, and he got up and shook himself off.

"May I have your attention, please?" Wigglytuff strode forward to an elaborate-looking piece of machinery.

"What's that do?" asked Popplio.

"Why, take a look, boy!"

The machine made absurd sputtering noises as the various components rotated around it while bobbing up and down like a carousel.

Finally, a miniature object was dispensed. Wigglytuff picked it up and showed it to everyone. "I must inform you all, this is still a work-in-progress."

Alesia was still panic-stricken at what was going on around her. Seeing poor Steenee squeezed in a pipe that was too narrow for her had practically made Alesia feel the pain. She needed something to calm her nerves. Without thinking, she reached over and grabbed the chewing gum. She released her pent-up anxiety by chewing up the gum, giving her teeth something to occupy themselves with.

"You! Girl!" Chatot sharply intoned. "What are you doing?!"

The warning pierced through Alesia's thoughts, bringing her back to reality. She realized what she had done. "...Oh, crap." She spat the gum out onto the floor, hoping she hadn't caused herself any lasting damage.

"Are you okay? What's it doing? What does it taste like?" asked Popplio.

"Not sure, not sure, and…" Alesia attempted to answer the third question like she had the first two. "Tomato soup. It's hot and creamy and I can actually feel it running down my throat!"

Tyrunt snickered.

"What?" Popplio asked him.

"Uh… look at her nose."

From the nose outward, Alesia's face was becoming a shade of blue. She was oblivious as she continued describing the lingering yet continually-changing taste. "Now it's baked potato. And now blueberry pie!"

"Alesia, your face!" Riolu called.

Alesia heard that, and turned to look in a mirror at herself. Her face was now blue in the middle. She tried to wipe it off, but it remained there. "What happened?"

"That gum you chewed wasn't ready for consumption," Chatot informed her, scowling as he picked up the chewed-up wad of gum from the floor. "You're fortunate you didn't chew longer, or you would have… well…"

"Chatot means to say you would have swelled up with Belue Berry juice like a balloon!" Wigglytuff cheerfully stated. "We've tried it on our newest recruit."

"Yup yup..." confirmed a weary voice from behind the door of a large booth.

 _'...Well, thank god I stopped,'_ Alesia thought. "Sorry about that. Can someone fix my face?"

"Certainly!" Wigglytuff turned to see Chatot leaving, presumably to wash his wings. "Chatot, song, please!"

Chatot halted, sighed, and then sang the upbeat song of eighteen notes again. A Chimecho appeared.

"Please escort this Eevee to the juicing room," Wigglytuff told him. "Nothing serious, that juice'll come out with a syringe. And when you're done, you can come back for Bidoof."

Chimecho turned to face Alesia and gestured at her to follow. She did so.

"...That was anticlimactic," Popplio commented as the two were leaving.

"I agree," Wigglytuff concurred. "But nonetheless, we shall move on!"

So he led them out of the machinery-filled room and onto the next part of the tour.

* * *

The next room was rather scant compared to the previous two. The only real notable features were five Swanna, all sat on stands built into the wall. Beneath them were five scales, each with a meter with two possible options: "GOOD" or "BAD", with a clock hand inside that could point to either of them.

"I hire these Swanna to lay golden chocolate eggs," Wigglytuff explained. "None of the recruits here can do that."

"Lemme try!" Popplio suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Chatot quickly shot down his suggestion.

"Allow us to demonstrate." Wigglytuff looked up at the Swanna, as if expecting them to automatically dispense eggs timed perfectly with his request, but they continued just sitting there. "Excuse me, friends, but we require an egg immediately!"

"Oh, um, certainly, master," one of the Swanna replied. She pushed hard, and out came a large golden egg. There were spots imprinted into it. It fell onto the scales beneath. The meter pointed to "GOOD" and the egg remained in place.

"That's the Eggdicator. If it's a good egg," Wigglytuff started as a Croagunk appeared and took the egg from the scales, "it's polished up and shipped out."

Another egg dropped down from a different Swanna. After a fleeting moment on the Eggdicator, the surface beneath it gave way, and the egg fell through, never to be seen again.

"But if it's a bad egg, it goes down to the furnace."

Tyrunt leapt at the prospect. "I want to hire one!"

"Is that so?" asked one of the Swanna. "And what could you offer us?"

"Well, you'd explore dungeons and fight enemy Pokémon with us," Tyrunt explained. "And you'd get a share of whatever our clients pay."

"I'll pass," said another Swanna, and the other four nodded in consensus.

"But… but…" Tyrunt stomped on the ground and a stack of boxes fell over. "You have to join my team! And make chocolate eggs!"

He ran up to the Eggdicators, the sound of his stomping feet echoing through the room as he did so, and he climbed up onto one of them, intending to catch a falling egg.

He had forgotten about what the Eggdicator actually did. Shortly after standing up straight, the red velvet he was standing on disappeared and he was promptly dropped down the chute, the world around him becoming blacker and blacker…

"Don't worry about the furnace," Wigglytuff assured the rest of the group. "It's only lit on Mondays."

"But today _is_ Monday," Riolu pointed out.

Wigglytuff went silent. "Well… maybe it's actually Thursdays. I'm not sure, I'll have to check. Anyhow, come along, friends!"

Popplio and even Riolu looked afraid as they followed Wigglytuff and Chatot to the door that would lead out of the room.

"Wait." Wigglytuff stopped and blocked the door with his cane. "Before we enter the next room, we must all put on suits. There are four suits here, enough for each of us!" He reached into a box and pulled out peculiar white suits. They were different shapes, and he gave them out accordingly, keeping the Wigglytuff-shaped suit for himself.

The suits were perfect fits for Chatot and the two remaining Gold Ticket winners, too. "What about the other three suits for Alesia and Steenee and Tyrunt?" asked Popplio.

"...There was a delivery error," Wigglytuff decided as he re-donned his hat, then opened the door.

* * *

The next room was almost entirely white. The only instances of different colors (aside from what was visible of the Pokémon wearing white suits to match the room) were two tiles on the ground, black with a purple "W" symbol.

"Aren't those Warp Tiles?" asked Popplio.

"Modified Warp Tiles," Wigglytuff specified. "Normal Warp Tiles send you to a random spot, but these Warp Tiles are connected to send things to and from each other!"

A Bidoof appeared, also wearing a white suit and holding a rather massive chocolate bar on his back. Chatot propped up the other end of the bar with his back and they both carried it together. They leaned forward and the bar slid off them and landed on the tile. This caused it to spin around and ascend into the air (and painfully hit Chatot) before fading away.

Something appeared on the other tile, and everyone went over to see it. It was a normal-sized version of the massive chocolate bar.

"When I was reprogramming the Warp Tiles to connect with each other, I had to make some compromises." Wigglytuff picked up the bar, carefully so as not to touch the tile. "But don't worry, my factory makes more than enough chocolate to compensate!"

"This… this is what you're using this breakthrough for?!" exclaimed Riolu. "Measly chocolate?! Think of the potential here! You could make so many Pokémon's lives so much easier! Here, watch!" He stepped onto the tile, and spun around and was brought into the air before he vanished from sight.

When the remaining Pokémon looked at the other tile, they did not immediately see Riolu. Of course, there was a reason for that.

Riolu found himself on a massive black square with a purple letter "W". Scared, he looked up when an enormous shadow loomed over him. Popplio, Wigglytuff, and Chatot were all there.

Wigglytuff grabbed him and held him up by the tail. To Wigglytuff, this was no big deal, but to Riolu, the speed was like a punch in the gut as everything around him was a blur for a moment. He dangled upside down, the force of his tail being pulled hurting his rear.

"Mr. Wonka, do you know how to fix him?" asked Popplio.

Wigglytuff rummaged through his brain before coming up with a suggestion. "We can put him in the taffy-pulling machine to stretch him back to his normal size!"

Riolu's eyes turned to pinpricks. "What?!"

Wigglytuff turned around and gave Riolu to Bidoof. "I need you to take this Riolu to the taffy-pulling room and have him stretched back to normal."

"Yup yup!" Bidoof left, holding Riolu in his mouth by the tail. Riolu screamed in terror the entire way, banging his fists on Bidoof in a desperate attempt to escape, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. If Alesia hadn't been eliminated, she might have found the sight rather amusing given how often Riolu gave her an earful for her cowardice.

* * *

"Now then," Wigglytuff declared. "Onto the next room."

He continued on, but turned around when he realized Popplio wasn't following. Popplio was frozen in place, looking perturbed.

"What is it, friend?"

"Mr. Wonka?" Popplio started. "Are my friends gonna be okay? Alesia? Riolu? What about Steenee and Tyrunt?"

"They'll all be just fine," Wigglytuff assured him. "Well, it's a 'maybe' in Tyrunt's case. Still need to check the furnace schedule."

"It's just that…" Popplio tried not to hurt Wigglytuff's feelings. "I don't wanna go to the next room… something scary's gonna happen to me! I don't wanna get cut into squares or burst with heat or get ground into powder!"

"You're the last one remaining, aren't you?"

Popplio nodded to Wigglytuff.

"Congratulations! You've done it, boy! You've won!" Wigglytuff cheered.

"I won? Won what?" Popplio questioned.

"The special prize! Do come with me!" Wigglytuff unlocked a door. Leading Popplio and Chatot inside, the room was revealed to be his office, complete with, for some reason, several items cut in half.

"Hey!" Popplio noticed something on the wall. It was the headless body of a Piplup. "That Piplup body is so realistic! Just like the head on the boat!"

"It is, isn't it?" Wigglytuff remarked. "But no need to ponder on that, because I have something even more spectacular!"

He opened a door and on the other side was some sort of booth with windows, revealing the outside world. The booth contained an insane amount of buttons and levers at the user's disposal.

"Introducing the Wigglyvator!" Wigglytuff beamed. "It'll go any direction you please! Front ways, front ways plus one degree, front ways plus two degrees…"

 _Several minutes later…_

"...and even front ways plus three-hundred and fifty-nine degrees!"

"It also goes up and down," Chatot wearily added to Popplio. "But that's all there is to say about that."

"Go ahead, press the button!" Wigglytuff requested of Popplio, and pointed upward at the specific button he meant.

Popplio was surprised, but nonetheless still did so. The Wigglyvator whirred to life.

"Hold on tight!" Wigglytuff warned the duo.

The glass ceiling of the factory shattered from the Wigglyvator emerging from it.

Pressing his face up against the glass, Popplio was awestruck at the view. Villagers' houses were all grouped together, segregated into groups by grey pathways that seemed so narrow from up high as the Wigglyvator soared across the horizon.

"How did you like the factory, Popplio?" asked Wigglytuff.

"It was the coolest most awesomest most chocolatiest place in the entire world and then some!" Popplio gushed.

"In that case, you'll be pleased to know that I'm giving it to you!"

The blood flow to Popplio's head temporarily stopped. He then stood hyperventilating in pure, utter amazement before he fell over, then instantly sprang back up and squealed in delight. "But... but Mr. Wonka...!"

"I can't run it forever. So who better to entrust than a dear friend?"

Popplio jumped forward and squeezed Wigglytuff into a hug.

"I just realized something," Popplio suddenly said.

"And what's that?" asked Wigglytuff.

"We didn't do a parody of The Candy Man! We can't have a Willy Wonka parody without that!"

"You're absolutely correct! On three! One... two..."

 _Who can do a rescue?  
Keeping Pokémon alive?  
Earn a lot of Poké and an X-Ray Specs or five?  
The Guildmaster!  
Oh, the Guildmaster can!  
The Guildmaster can, 'cause he runs his guild with love and makes your rank go up!_

Popplio and Wigglytuff were happy with their first part, but noticed Chatot wasn't joining in. Wigglytuff hit him with his cane, and Chatot cleared his throat and then sang with them.

 _Who can take a Friend Bow?  
Use it to recruit  
Rayquaza and Groudon and Kyogre and Mewtwo?  
The Guildmaster!  
Oh, the Guildmaster can!  
The Guildmaster can, 'cause he runs his guild with love and makes your rank go up!_

Popplio decided to use the next verse to praise Wigglytuff.

 _Wiggly Wonka makes  
Every job he takes  
Gratifying and adventurous!  
And even when things seem disastrous  
He always makes the fight momentous!_

Wigglytuff blushed at the verse dedicated to him. He and Chatot returned to singing on the next verse.

 _Who can take tomorrow  
Dip it in a dream?  
Or a hallucination or a Dimensional Scream?  
The Guildmaster!  
Wiggly Wonka can!  
The Guildmaster can!_

 _The Guildmaster can, 'cause he runs his guild with love and makes your rank go up!  
And your rank goes up 'cause the Guildmaster thinks it should...  
_

At last, the elevator descended from the sky, gradually becoming slower and slower until it ended up inside a studio room with no roof. It landed on a big circle with the letter "E", sort of like the "H" for helicopters to land on.

"Cut!" yelled a Totodile, revealing himself in front of the crowd of producers. "Very good! Wigglytuff and Chatot, gather up your recruits and return home to your guild. We'll have your paycheck through by the end of the week."

"Thank you, Mr. Castaway!" Wigglytuff exclaimed as he took off the hat and suit. Somehow, Chatot was the only one who seemed unhappy as he and the guild members left.

"Team Everlasting and Team Guile?" Castaway called as the Grass Continent residents were leaving.

The four of them showed up. Steenee had gotten all of the chocolate washed off, Alesia's face was no longer painted blue, Tyrunt had a plaster on his nose from the landing, and Riolu was back to normal size.

"Ah, good, you're all ready. I'll get our set designers to rebuild the set for _What Came After_ and then we'll be able to resume the main story."

* * *

 **A/N: April Fool's! Huzzah! :D**

 **I promise the next chapter will take place in the present continuing from** _ **Flygon with the Wind,**_ **and not be non-canon like this or a flashback like** _ **Second Interlude**_ **.**

 **(05/24/2019): A picture of what Wigglytuff** **in this chapter looks like now exists, courtesy of Jordy (toonirl) on Tumblr!**


	14. Lights Out

Now that the job was complete, the points had been enough to bump Team Everlasting up to Bronze Rank. As such, Alesia and Popplio were using their time off to relax. So to wash away the rock dust and sweat, they were back in the sparkling water surrounding Ambient Cave, warmed by the sun's rays beaming down. Before, Alesia had taken Popplio up on his offer of letting her ride on his back while he swam at maximum speed, but she had quickly lost the desire to do that upon losing her grip and being sent flying. So now, they simply lay idly in the water, enjoying each other's company.

"Do you think Riolu will come back soon?" Alesia wondered.

"Maybe," Popplio simply answered. "But I hope he's doing okay." The reason he and Alesia weren't doing extreme work was that they weren't positive they could handle it without their leader, so Riolu attempting to complete a task on his own worried them, even if his arrogance had annoyed Alesia more so usual.

"Popplio?" Alesia started. He was only one of two options for asking questions she wouldn't know the answer to, since she couldn't afford to look too suspicious. "I've been meaning to ask, but… why is it that the Pokémon in dungeons do nothing but attack us while the Pokémon in the outside world don't?"

"The explanation is… a little bit complicated," Popplio admitted. "But I bet Trevenant has a book with the answer!"

* * *

Dried of the water, the two of them now entered the thick, hollowed-out tree in Izolo Village. The ground had irregularly-shaped rings, seemingly at least seventy.

"Hello, you two." Trevenant waved at them from behind the counter. He still had a deep, gruff voice, but without a tinge of hostility. "Can I help with anything?"

"Do you have any books about…" Popplio thought, then decided on a description. "...how the world works?"

Trevenant found the description a little peculiar, but nonetheless pointed diagonally. "That shelf has them."

"Thanks!" Popplio went to the shelf and started rummaging through.

Alesia did the same, and soon, she pulled out a book from the shelf. It was titled _History of the Mist Continent_ in stylized silver letters with black outlines on a cyan background. The colors were faded out and a few pieces had been torn off from the front. The bottom left corner (or bottom right corner if one was looking at the back of the book) was missing entirely. "Did you say this place is called the Mist Continent?"

"Nope!" Popplio reached into the shelf and pulled out another book titled _History of the Ice Continent_ to show to Alesia. "This is it!" He opened it and flickered through the pages until he stopped, pointed at a page, and pronounced a victorious "Aha!"

He paraphrased it aloud. "After humans ceased to exist, some Pokémon gradually increased in sapience while others never did so and remained in enclosed habitats… what we call dungeons," Popplio started. "Some Pokémon found the remains of the world that humans had left behind and started to make sense of it all. Like, we speak some of the same languages they did because we studied their texts and figured out what words mean. Although some languages spoken nowadays were invented by us Pokémon..."

"So it's sort of like convergent evolution?" Alesia questioned.

Popplio nodded. "Yeah! Not evolution like at Brine Shrine." He kept reading. "They're territorial, they fight anyone they think is trying to invade their territory or steal their food, and they don't speak like we can. I mean, unless you've had a Silence Orb used on you. But over time, the percentage of Pokémon who don't have our level of sapience or live in a society like ours has been consistently decreasing slowly… eventually, there'll be no more Pokémon who run purely on instinct and everyone will have developed intelligent minds!"

Alesia leaned over to see the text Popplio was reading. Sure enough, it was a less simplified version of what Popplio was telling her.

Hearing Popplio refer to a certain type of Orb placed another question into Alesia's head. "How are Orbs made?"

Popplio flickered through the book again before picking out the page they needed. "How _were_ Orbs made," he corrected. "Orbs are a finite resource buried in rocks and the ground. Like in Marble Cavern! Maybe we could go mining for them sometime! But it can't be tonight, because I have to go see Braviary's twin brother for language classes."

 _'He's better at that than running a courtroom,'_ Popplio thought. _'Maybe he should just stick to that.'_

Alesia didn't get a chance to reply to any of that because Popplio quickly resumed reading. "No one's sure exactly how they were created, but a popular theory is that humans created them."

Humans. Alesia uncertainly decided to ask another question, but quietly. She knew it could be a touchy subject, but she was becoming increasingly desperate to know. "Why don't humans exist here anymore? And Pokémon do?"

Popplio looked at her blankly in thought, then searched through the book again. He found a section about humans, and read through it eagerly… but his smile faltered when he couldn't find adequate information about the past relating to them. "...We don't know," he conceded. "Even after all these years, we still haven't figured that out."

Alesia leaned over to read. It said specifically that while there was a large and convincing body of evidence that humans had previously existed, no one knew why they weren't around anymore.

"Freaky…" Alesia picked up the book and put it back on the shelf. "Well, what does that first book say about…" She leaned closer to him and lowered her voice. "...humans from my world turning into Pokémon?"

Popplio fetched the first book about the Mist Continent and opened it. He was greeted by a spray of dust that made him hack and cough, then he opened up the pages. His face faltered. "Oh…"

"What's the matter?"

"The pages don't work anymore." He turned the inside of the book around to show Alesia. By "not working anymore", he apparently meant that an entire section of pages had been torn out, and that almost all of the remaining pages were faded out. The entire book was damaged beyond repair. "But maybe there are some books here about the other continents?"

Alesia took the book to Trevenant's desk. "Mr. Trevenant?" When he looked at her, she put the book on the counter. "Do you have any books on the other continents of the Pokémon world?" She caught herself too late, wishing she'd simply said "the world" and omitted "Pokémon".

"Sorry, nothing here," Trevenant answered. He threw the book into the trash can. "And that tatty old thing's no good. Thanks for bringing it to my attention."

Alesia frowned and looked down. "No problem…" She slowly walked outside.

* * *

"Alright," Lapras told Riolu, gradually slowing until he came to a stop outside Riolu's destination on the left of them. "This is the place."

"Thanks, bud." Riolu lifted his right leg over Lapras's shell and slid off onto the stone platform just above the surface of the water.

The cave's gaping maw was frozen wide open, with stalactites pointing sharply downward, causing an obstruction of the entrance. Inside, more stalactites as well as stalagmites forced any travelers into a few specific paths and limited their ability to traverse the dungeon. If Cutthroat Maze was a creature's mouth, and the sharp stalactites and stalagmites were teeth, it would look quite unnatural and horrifying.

As Lapras swam away, Riolu nodded and said, "Mm-hm," to himself in determination, then took his first step forward into the cave, prepared to face any danger.

Maybe it was for the better that he was alone. Sure, Popplio was always dependable in a pinch, but Alesia struck Riolu as the sort of Pokémon who would feign having a stomachache from spoiled breakfast in order to get out of entering a scary dungeon.

When he heard two recognizable voices faintly reverberating through the cave, he picked up the pace and slid behind several stalagmites bunched up together.

The Tyrunt and Steenee walked by. He could see them, but they missed the blue and dark grey poking through the gaps in the arrangement of stalagmites he was hiding behind. If they knew he was here, they'd want to speed up to make sure they, not him, completed the job first.

He was there for a few moments more as he watched them as best as he could, until they entered a gap in the wall and turned to walk down a corridor and he was sure they were gone.

When he looked away from the side and back in front of him, downward a little, he almost felt his heart stop when he was greeted with the sight of the sharp end of a stalagmite pointed directly at his throat, mere centimeters away.

Making his move carefully, he slowly pulled his head back and inched to the side, and got up until he was fully visible, the view of him unobstructed by the stalagmites. Taking in everything around him to avoid any unfortunate incidents, he increased his walking speed as he entered the gap in the wall and turned the opposite way, hoping this way would take him to the Furret and that Team Guile were doing it wrong.

Seeing the hole in the ceiling above him, he jumped up with his front paws in the air, gripped the edges of the hole, and pulled himself up.

It was a tight squeeze, but he managed to get inside and take a look around. He paced about, searching for any crevices, but it was a dead end. Time to go back.

But then, he felt the ground beneath him lightly shaking. It went from minor to major in a fraction of a second, with the ground rising up out of the ground, and throwing him aside. He rolled on the ground a few times before stopping, at which point he looked up to see the huge, terrifying glare of a Boldore, none too happy about the interruption of its hibernation.

Riolu knew there was no getting it to leave him alone, and that he'd have to fight. He jolted forward and pounded it with Force Palm.

As Riolu resumed his position on the floor, the Boldore was momentarily stunned. It looked as though it might topple over, defeated, but before Riolu could react, it thrust one of its pincers forward underneath Riolu, sweeping him off his feet, and tossing him into the air. Before he could hit the ground, the pincer swiftly lobbed into him and changed his pathway from downward to sideways, ending when his head made contact with the wall.

Riolu didn't have enough time to register the pain before his entire world blinked out. Motionless, blank-faced, and with his eyes closed, he fell to the ground, not even aware of it.

The Boldore retreated back into its hole in the cave and resumed its slumber.


	15. Riolu in the Tyrunt's Den

The sun shone against a pinkish-orange sky, reflected in the ocean, split by the waves. Kaia Town wasn't completely empty, but there were notably fewer Pokémon about than in late morning and early afternoon, for a portion of them had opted to go home to relax until tomorrow, and shut up shop for the day if they owned one.

Miles across the ocean, however, Alesia and Popplio were looking up at the sky. The history lesson Alesia had gotten earlier could only do so much to distract her from the absence of their team leader.

"I wonder how Riolu's getting on." Popplio's suggestion cut through her thoughts before he whipped out his badge and spoke into it. "Riolu!"

There was no response.

"Uh, Riolu? Ri-o-lu?" Popplio's clear enunciation did nothing to get through to his intended recipient.

"Lemme try." Alesia got out her own badge and said, "Riolu," into it, but again, there was no reply.

"This is bad," said Popplio. "We have to go get him!" He turned around, away from the edge of the water around Ambient Cave, and made haste in traveling in the opposite direction.

"But we don't know where he is," Alesia pointed out.

"He said he wanted to complete a job before that other team could, right? And that they're based in Kaia Town? He must be close to there!"

* * *

Team Guile did their best to traverse the cave floors. It would have been a lot simpler if the area wasn't filled to the brim with stalactites and stalagmites, forcing them to maneuver carefully around the obstacles. While neither of them picked up any injuries (the Numel with an eye missing after a visit to Cutthroat Maze who lived in Kaia Town sufficiently deterred them from getting too careless), Steenee slipped and fell, getting a bruise. It slowed her down a little, much to Tyrunt's annoyance.

"Honestly, Steenee," said Tyrunt, looking condescendingly at his teammate as she winced in pain while moving across the cave floor cautiously. "You slipped and fell. Quit being so pathetic."

Steenee reluctantly nodded, doing her best to ignore the bruise on her torso. "Are we getting closer to the client?"

"Not sure. We'll go upstairs." So they stepped onto a rock, raised above the ground, and used additional rocks as the stepping stones for them to reach the hole in the wall, big enough for them to enter.

They were now in a new area, with the same shiny black stone making up the material of the environment.

"Help! I'm here!"

In response to the plea for help, Tyrunt looked around and noticed something about the wall far off from them. There must have been a hole, because the back half of a Furret was stuck inside, visible to them.

"We'll pull you out," Steenee told her.

Unable to see her rescuers or what they were doing, Furret was anxious about what the process of freeing her would entail. It took some coordination, as well as some painful yanking of her tail, but after that, the Furret's body was pulled backward out of the crevice in the wall.

She made whispered groans of pain, trying to be subtle about it, then looked up at the team. "Thank you… I wasn't sure anyone would come to help…"

"It's okay," Steenee assured her. "Your sister made sure help was on the way."

"Stay with us and do everything we say," Tyrunt instructed their client. So they began to go back down the way they had come.

* * *

"I'm just surprised you have airplanes here," Alesia remarked. Their long walk finished, she and Popplio approached Sweeping Rapids, outside of which there was a sign indicating this was where to wait if you wanted a flight.

"What are airplanes?" asked Popplio. "Are they pancakes while you're flipping them out of the pan and in the air? Because they're plain and not topped yet?"

Alesia seemed confused as her ears drooped. "You… said we were going to catch a flight to Kaia Town?" She'd been surprised at the thought that airplanes existed in this world, but now it appeared she'd been mistaken.

"Yeah?" Popplio confirmed. "On a Flygon!"

Just then, a Flygon swooped down and stopped in front of them. Alesia, unprepared for the impact, fell over in surprise, feeling the ground beneath her four feet quake.

She gathered her bearings. "We're… going to ride on him?"

The Flygon made a rough, "Ahem," in a decidedly female voice.

"Oh… sorry." Alesia smiled nervously.

Popplio had already gotten onto the Flygon's back and fastened himself in with the rope. He reached over the edge and picked Alesia up by her front paws, bringing her onto the Flygon's back.

"Everyone fastened in?" asked the Flygon.

"Um… well…" Alesia saw the ropes in front of her, tied in a knot. It didn't quite look safe to her.

"Oh, are you struggling? Lemme help you with that!" Popplio untied the ropes, then slid one underneath Alesia and one over her, then tied them into the same knots they had been in before. "Ready!"

"W—" But she wasn't allowed to finish, for the Flygon jerked back a little and then took flight, speeding through the air with the two smaller Pokémon tightly in tow.

Alesia wished she could scream for dear life, proclaiming her desire not to die, but the force against her was too strong for her to speak or move her face, and would surely send her plummeting to the ground if not for the ropes.

* * *

"I recognize this," Steenee said as they traversed down a corridor. "We're very nearly at the exit."

As they were approaching the roughly-shaped gap in the wall, Steenee noticed an object on the ground, its washed-out but light beige color contrasting with the dark cave walls.

She went over to inspect it, and found it was a bag. Looking inside, she found seeds, berries, and an Orb.

"This must belong to a R.E.E.D. team," she observed. Looking up, she saw a gap in the ceiling. "Tyrunt?" she asked. "You don't think… whoever owns this bag is trapped up there, do you?"

"I don't care," Tyrunt responded gruffly. "We only take jobs that have been arranged in advance. That way, we can expect a reward."

"But we can't just leave them!"

"You take care of it if you want. I've got more important business to tend to."

Steenee watched Tyrunt leave, and the Furret give an uncertain glance at her before following Tyrunt.

* * *

Popplio untied the ropes around himself, then reached over to do the same with Alesia's, but she smacked his fin away with one paw, then put it back over her eyes like the other one, shivering. "Don't touch my ropes! I don't wanna die!"

"Ma'am, we've come to a stop."

After a few seconds, Alesia tentatively removed her paws from her eyes, seeing a shore around them all. To the right, there was the ocean, complete with the sound of waves crashing.

They spent enough time lingering that a Venonat hopped over. "Attention! Please vacate the Flygon!"

Popplio untied both his and Alesia's ropes and the two of them slid off, touching the sand.

The Venonat pulled the untied ropes off the Flygon and began to inspect them. After a few seconds, she took the first piece of rope to show to the Flygon. "This rope has been damaged beyond the legal limit." One of the many strands had been split. "We'll need a replacement pronto."

Alesia sighed in relief, convinced that the rope could easily have given way and killed either her or Popplio, depending on who had been using the rope.

However, the possibility of Riolu being in danger was still in effect.

Further along the shore, a Lapras pulled up, looking rather shaken and worried. Its passengers were a Steenee and a Riolu. It wasn't clear at first, but when the Steenee got off, struggling to carry the Riolu slumped on her back, it became clear that the Riolu was unconscious. A look at the vermilion and yellow scarf around his neck also proved this to be the Riolu that Alesia and Popplio had come looking for.

They scurried to the Steenee, overjoyed. "That's our friend! Thank you so much!" Popplio took Riolu off Steenee's back, only to fall over from the weight. He got back up to support the unconscious Pokémon, though.

"What happened?" asked Alesia.

"I don't know," said Steenee. She placed a bag in front of them. "I just found him in Cutthroat Maze."

"Sorry you had to deal with that." Alesia scowled. "It's just that he—"

"He got into an accident through no fault of his own like everyone does sometimes!" Popplio finished the sentence, then smiled sheepishly at Alesia in apology for interrupting her.

"You two sure are good teammates to come get him back," Steenee praised. Then she paused, then looked at Riolu, then back at Alesia and Popplio. "I think I recognize you all."

"We met in Sweeping Rapids when you apprehended that mean old new-hat-wearing Cacturne!" Popplio reminded her.

"Ah, of course." Steenee remembered now. "Sorry you came all that way."

"It's fine," Alesia told her.

"Yeah! None of us mind that." Fortunately, Riolu wasn't awake to challenge Popplio's assertion. "Here, have some Poké for your troubles."

"Really? Thank you!" Steenee hadn't been expecting a reward since the "job" hadn't been officially assigned. She accepted the paper Poké bill that Popplio dropped into her hand. "So, will you be off on your way home now?"

"I wouldn't do that," said the Lapras. "It's not safe to fly an unconscious Pokémon. And he might fall off if I carried him."

"Well, darn." Alesia frowned. This meant she wouldn't have to go for another terrifying flight—at least for now—but this put them in an awkward position.

"You could stay at our team base until he recuperates," Steenee offered.

"You would do that for us?" Alesia asked gratefully. "Thank you so much! How about it, Popplio?"

She didn't get an answer. She looked around and saw Popplio happily conversing with the Lapras. He turned to look at her, then started to come back to her and Steenee. "Sorry," he apologized. "Old friend of mine. And Riolu. Maybe we could… tell you about it sometime? But not without Riolu's say-so."

Alesia blinked in confusion. "Uh, sure. Sometime."

"I think we'd better get your friend to a medic," Steenee decided.

* * *

"Patient 447?" called a voice.

Alesia looked at a paper slip and found that same number written on it. She and Popplio both worked together to carry Riolu into the doctor's room.

Blissey accepted Riolu and gently pulled his head closer to her and inspected the top of it.

"He hit his head. His skin will heal on its own, there wasn't any lasting damage. He'll just need some pills," she concluded, washing and disinfecting the wound. "Take two every morning and evening for a week. The best thing to do now is wait a few hours for him to wake up."

Popplio accepted the container. "Thank you, doctor." The container rattled on the inside as he took it. He got up to take Riolu and leave.

* * *

Steenee opened the door to one of the many terraced stone houses that overlooked the pathways of Kaia Town. "Tyrunt?" she called. "I brought some guests."

Loud steps were heard inside the house, and a Pokémon of the aforementioned species appeared. "Steenee, what'd I tell you? Ask me before you bring guests!"

"Sorry, I would have," Steenee began. "But they've got someone unconscious and they can't go home until he's better."

Tyrunt groaned. "Fine, they can stay. But only until then." He walked back the way he had come with the same loud steps.

"Sorry," Steenee whispered as she escorted the trio inside. "Need some help with him?"

"Nah, we got it," said Popplio as he and Alesia finished carrying Riolu up the steps.

The journey continued into the living room, where they laid Riolu on the ground.

"Feel free to sit on that couch," Steenee invited the conscious duo. Sitting next to her on the first couch, Tyrunt gave her a subtle glance of annoyance.

Alesia and Popplio made themselves at home on the first couch.

"So that's the guy you stayed to help," Tyrunt observed.

"Mhm." Steenee nodded. She pulled a drawer out from a cabinet, and from that drawer she took an envelope. "Excuse me. I hope ave to go mail a letter." She left the living room, then out of the view of the living room's occupants, left the house.

"What exactly happened?" Alesia asked Tyrunt unsurely. It seemed rather odd that Steenee would have been able to find Riolu if there couldn't have been a notice available on the bulletin board informing anyone of his plight. And on the same day he had been rendered unconscious, no less.

"We were rescuing some Furret from Cutthroat Maze," Tyrunt simply stated. "And my teammate over there saw your buddy's bag and thought someone else must be in danger. So she helped him while I got that Furret back to her family."

"Well, that was… very nice of her." Alesia understood Popplio's reason for interrupting her. It wouldn't be in their best interest for the other team to know exactly how Riolu had ended up in this spot in the first place.

Tyrunt suddenly remembered something. "I have to report to HQ to register our completed job." He got out of his chair. "And you have to come with me. Just so I know the house is safe."

* * *

Alesia and Popplio had no choice but to carry the still-unconscious Riolu. They'd asked Tyrunt for assistance, but he'd gruffly declined. They were finally able to set Riolu down outside the Seviper building, and while Tyrunt entered the building to get his points for the mission, Team Everlasting waited outside.

Popplio stared intently at a notice on the wall. "Popplio, what are you doing?" Alesia asked.

"Checking the times for transport home tomorrow," said Popplio.

"Well, can we get home some way other than a Flygon?" Alesia requested, still feeling a bit queasy from the ride, even if it wasn't as bad as before.

"Sure, sure!" Popplio saw another poster. It detailed the different ranks there were for R.E.E.D. teams and how many points were required for each, just like the one in Braviary's office. "Three weeks," he stated, repeating the length of time Braviary had given them until the Ranks Tournament would be held.

"I hope Riolu learns a valuable lesson from all this," Alesia spat, looking down at his motionless body. "He just wasted even more time not getting any points."

Tyrunt came out of the building. "Come on, back to the house now with you bunch."

* * *

Alesia and Popplio sat awkwardly on the couch. All of their attempts to make polite conversation with Tyrunt had ended with curt answers that indicated he didn't want to be disturbed as he idly relaxed, stretched out on the other couch in the room. The discomfort was mercifully cut short by the return of Steenee, who had proven much more welcoming.

"Hi, Steenee!" Popplio greeted her enthusiastically, waving.

"Oh, hey, Steenee," her partner and team leader mumbled, showing less enthusiasm for her presence than the two Pokémon she hardly knew. He held out a bag of coins. "Here's your share of the reward."

"Thank you, Tyrunt." She emptied the coins into her hand and counted them up. "350 Poké. But… I could've sworn the reward for the mission was 750 Poké."

"No, it was definitely 700," Tyrunt dismissed.

Steenee decided she must have been mistaken, and ended the conversation.

* * *

After being treated to an evening meal, courtesy of Steenee, who had volunteered to do the cooking that evening, everyone had gone to bed. Tyrunt was sleeping by himself in his own room. Meanwhile, in the other bedroom, Steenee slept in her bed while the three members of Team Everlasting slept on the carpeted floor, each with a blanket over them.

Riolu finally regained consciousness. He mouthed expletives at the throbbing pain in his head, then realized he didn't recognize this room. Throwing the blanket off himself, he looked around. It was dark, but he could still make out the carpeted floor he was laying down on, a bed containing a sleeping Pokémon, and two other Pokémon next to him. He leaned over to wake up one of the Pokémon, who turned out to be an Eevee.

"What is i—oh, you're awake," she said.

"What happened, Alesia?" asked Riolu, recognizing the female voice.

"Well…" She pronounced the first word rather slowly. "After your stupidity almost got you killed, and we had to come after you, the Tyrunt and Steenee you tried to upstage kindly let us stay the night so you could recuperate before we went home."

"You mean this is their home?"

"Just don't say a word to them about why you came here," Alesia told him, fed up with his constant arrogance. "They've been so good to us."

"Hey! I'm the leader of this team, and I'm the only one who gives orders!" Riolu snapped, outraged. "Know your place!"

"Banana peanut butter ripple!"

They both turned their heads to the direction of Popplio's voice. "...What?" said Alesia, wearily.

"...Oh. Sorry," said Popplio. "Your arguing woke me up and I thought maybe it was about what the best ice cream flavor is." He yawned. "Well, time for beddy byes."

"Wait, Popplio," said Alesia. "Back me up on this. You agree Riolu messed up big time, right?

A light sound of being woken up from a peaceful sleep came from the bed. Steenee looked at them. "Is someone talking?"

Popplio took the bullet. "Sorry. I sometimes talk in my sleep."

"I see… well, could you try and keep it to a minimum?"

"Mhm!" Popplio nodded.

"Thanks." Steenee rolled to face the other way and resumed her sleep.

"This isn't over," Alesia warned Riolu. He ignored her.

* * *

In Popplio's dream land, he flew atop a golden five-point star, soaring through the air on it as it came closer and closer down to the ground until impact, at which point he was thrown off, having landed in a forest. Most of the trees were ordinary, but one had something resembling a face, with holes for two eyes and a mouth and a cylinder of wood poking out for a nose. Large, round apples hung from the trees above.

Popplio shook one of the trees, and a branch with an apple on it fell down. He picked off the Apple and tossed it aside, then took a bite out of the branch.

He met a Rowlet and a Litten, who had been waiting for him. "Heya, Popp—"

"Shh!" Popplio cut off the Rowlet and held up a sign reading, "NO TALKING" in large letters.


	16. True Colors

**A/N: Before we begin, I'd like to thank Ambyssin, who is writing _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light_ , for giving this story a mention on his Tumblr for his aforementioned story!**

 **On a less positive note… Arata Iiyoshi (composer of _Rescue Team_ and _Explorers_ ) updated his website to say that he will be ending his musical career as a freelancer. A rough translation shows that he simply doesn't get enough support and his financial status is quite poor. He also points out that freelancers have better possibilities in other continents, especially in Europe. As a result, he opened up a donation page for himself. If you can give anything, that would be great. Search the Mystery Dungeon subreddit for more details.**

 **Okay, ready now.**

* * *

Morning came in Kaia Town. There were but a few Pokémon up and about, but the number would inevitably grow as the day went on. Today was the premiere of a certain movie in Meowth Theater. Ever since the theater in the Water Continent had shut down, the brand had enjoyed far greater success here in the Ice Continent. The premiere of today's movie would create even more of a buzz.

In the home of Team Guile, the sun shining through the window eased Steenee's eyes open. She stretched and yawned, and got out of bed, ready to prepare for the day.

* * *

"Riolu?" Steenee gently prompted. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Huh?" Riolu had been sitting at the table, not sure what to make of the food in front of him. It wasn't as if he didn't like it — Oran Berry waffles were highly palatable — but it just didn't feel right to be enjoying this team's hospitality.

But if he didn't eat up, they'd probably catch on that something was not right between them. Popplio and even Alesia were enjoying it, after all, so it would be best if he followed suit. So he ate a little at a time, and eventually forgot all about the tension with the other team, soon eating up the entire contents of his plate.

With a loud slurp noise, Popplio licked his lips clean. "That was good!" he complimented.

Alesia nodded. "Thanks."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, thanks," Riolu finished.

"Now then." Steenee handed a cylindrical plastic container to Riolu. "We took you to Blissey Medic and they said to take two of these pills every morning and evening for a week."

"Really?" Riolu wasn't quite sure what to say. "Thank you."

"I have a question," Alesia said. "Why couldn't we have given you a Reviver Seed?"

"Those are for when you faint from Pokémon moves," Riolu answered. "Getting hit on the head is different."

"I... guess that makes sense?" Alesia turned to Steenee and Tyrunt. "Do you guys have work to do?"

"Well, later," said Steenee. "But in a few minutes, we're going to Meowth Theater to watch the new movie. You know, the one with a detective? Forgot the name."

"R.E.E.D. team members get discounts," Tyrunt explained.

"We wanna come!" Popplio wagged his tail. "Right, guys?"

"Well… we might as well, since we came all this way," Riolu said, not wanting to disappoint his friend.

So after they finished their breakfast, they exited the house, and off they all went in the direction of the theater.

* * *

The group emerged from the theater, having viewed the film of their desire. "That was so fun! Popplio declared. "The best part was when—"

"Shh!" said a member of the queue.

"Oh… right. Spoilers," Popplio realized.

"Right!" Steenee suddenly declared. "Since you're here, do you want to come with us to Grumpig's Diner for a drink?"

"Sure!" Alesia accepted the invitation.

"Also sure!" Popplio agreed.

Riolu had been hoping to get home now, but it seemed like his teammates weren't going to come with him if he did. "Alright."

* * *

Entering the building, the five of them were greeted with a black and white checkered floor, red velvet seats facing each other, separated by square tables, and a counter hosted by a Grumpig and a Golduck.

"Nice place," Alesia commented, smiling at the view.

"Glad you like it," Steenee replied. "Where do you want to sit?"

Unfortunately, the counter was at maximum occupancy, forcing them to choose a table. They scoured the diner, finding a table with a large window directly next to it, and settling on that.

They all perused the menu. The three residents of Izolo Village seemed especially fascinated with it, unaccustomed with this place.

"The Spelon Berry shake sounds good!" Popplio remarked.

"Think I'll go with a Nomel Berry soda." Riolu put his menu back. "Alesia?"

"Oh, um…" She looked up and thought about it. Not wanting to delay the rest of the group for too long, she picked out the Belue Berry smoothie.

Tyrunt and Steenee picked out drinks for themselves, and soon enough, a Miltank waitress showed up to take their order, which she relayed to the Grumpig at the counter.

"This way, apprentice!" the Grumpig commanded the Golduck, heading into the kitchen. "I'll show ya how to use the coffee machine."

"Oh, um, yes, sir," the Golduck said unsurely, and followed his boss.

At the table, Steenee seemed interested in making conversation. "So, where're you from?" she asked the trio sat at the opposite side of the table.

Popplio wasn't sure how to answer that. The more Pokémon that knew where he and the team lived, the higher their chances of being found by Nispet Village.

"The Magma Continent," Riolu lied.

"Really? That's where I'm from!" said Steenee. "Don't you just love the mountains there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Riolu said. ' _Think, Riolu, think. What do the mountains there look like? If it's the Magma Continent, then maybe it has volcanoes… aren't volcanoes brown?'_ "Those lovely, brown mountains…"

Steenee seemed confused. "But the mountains there are grey."

"He's a little colorblind," Popplio fibbed.

"Yes! Yes I am!" Riolu "confirmed", going along with his friend's attempt to cover for his lie. He turned around to see a Bellossom exiting the diner, wearing a pink hat. "Hey! I like your orange hat!" Riolu called to her.

Tyrunt's face had been covered by a menu, but now he placed the menu down flat on the table so he could look at Riolu. "Pretty sure that's not how being c—"

"Please don't overload his mind," Popplio interrupted. "He just got out of hospital for a head wound and you might worsen it."

Alesia didn't understand why the duo at either side of her were making such a spectacle, but decided not to say anything. At least until she had a brilliant idea for what to say. "Yeah. His brain can only take so much."

Riolu glared daggers at her, but then the Miltank returned, balancing a platter on her back. Carefully, with great precision, she slid it onto the table. To Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio, it looked like the drinks on it would surely fall over, but said drinks shook minimally and ultimately managed to stay flat.

"Um… thank you?" said Alesia, in surprise. Presumably this was just how things were in the Pokémon world.

Popplio reached for his milkshake and took a noisy slurp. "Mmm! This is good!" He looked to Tyrunt and Steenee. "You have a great diner here!"

Ice cubes clinked together as Riolu picked up his soda. He sipped.

Alesia tentatively took a sip of her Belue Berry smoothie. Her eyes widened as her tastebuds exploded.

The others at the table were looking at her. Tyrunt's expression was more of an annoyed one, but the other three all looked concerned.

"S-sorry," Alesia offered, after a pause. "I just never tried any of these berries when I was a—" She caught herself. "...taste tester?"

The others resumed drinking. After a while of alternating between conversation and sipping, they were all finished.

"Alright, we'll pay our respective parts of the bill and then Tyrunt and I will be back to work," Steenee decided. "You guys have to go home, right?"

"Yep!" Popplio said. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," said Steenee. "I can't wait to write home to my family about you guys."

"What?" Riolu questioned on instinct, then, realizing his blunder, spoke again to lessen the suspicion. "What's your family like?"

"My mom is sick in bed," Steenee answered. "And I have a little sister. So I've been doing what I can to send money home to them."

Riolu felt as if that Boldore had smacked him in the gut. Taking all this in, he suddenly felt very guilty. "...That's true?"

"Mhm." Steenee nodded.

Right then, the Miltank from earlier arrived with the bill.

Before Tyrunt or Steenee could do anything with it, Riolu hastily grabbed it. "We'll get this," he told them, and put some bills and coins down to pay for not only Team Everlasting's drinks, but also those that Team Guile had consumed.

"You, you really don't have t–"

"No, no, it's fine," Riolu cut Steenee off. "Thank you for everything. Come on, guys."

* * *

After Riolu had ushered them out of the diner, Popplio and Alesia were now following him to the shore so they could get a ride home.

Reaching the shore, the same Lapras from before arrived, accepted payment, and then the trio got onto his back before he headed out to the deeper ocean.

For the first few moments of the journey, Alesia and Popplio faced the opposite direction so they could watch Kaia Town become smaller and smaller the further away they got from it. Riolu was busy sitting idly, lost in thought.

After turning back around, Alesia decided to bite. "So I take it you've learned something from all this?"

"What?" Riolu said, a tinge of irritation in his voice.

"That an eye for an eye accomplishes nothing except selling more eyepatches?"

"Shut up."

"You know I was right."

"Shut up or I'm throwing you in the water."

"Careful, Riolu," Alesia warned, smirking. "I'm pretty sure Lapras would take you to the police for that."

"Seriously, just shut up!" Riolu finally yelled. "I know I did bad, okay?! And I never would've done it if I'd known what was really going on with those guys! I'm sorry! What more do you want?!"

The rest of the Pokémon present said nothing out of shock, the crashing of the waves being the only thing preventing utter silence.

Riolu calmed down. "Seriously, I mean it," he said, softly and remorsefully.

Alesia knew not to continue annoying him. Instead, she opted for words of genuine respect. "You're nicer than I thought," she said. "I mean, if you weren't, you wouldn't feel bad about this."

"You think so?" Riolu looked her in the eyes. "But she–"

"It's okay, Riolu." Popplio caressed his face affectionately. "You couldn't have known about that."

"Thank you for coming after me," Riolu told them. "You really are good friends."

Once a sufficient amount of time had gone by without anyone else talking, Lapras asked, "Anyone mind telling me what this is all about?"

"Don't worry, pal," Popplio said. "It's over now. I hope."

"Yes. It is." Alesia nodded in agreement.

By now, the group could see nothing but the ocean whichever direction they looked. Part of Alesia was worried about being lost, but she kept telling herself Lapras knew how to go where they wanted.

"So do you all know each other then?" she asked the other three.

Before answering that, Popplio whispered to Riolu: "Do you think we can tell her?"

Riolu hesitated, but then decided they could. "Alesia, I'm guessing you're wondering what all that commotion in the diner was about."

"Are you actually colorblind?" she asked.

"No," said Riolu. "That scarf you're wearing is white and blue. Uh, light grey and cyan."

He leaned over to talk to Lapras. "Hey, Lapras. I'm telling her our story if that's okay."

"Well… if you trust her, and if you insist," Lapras answered, raising an eyebrow.

Riolu returned to his teammates, and he and Popplio regaled their backstory to Alesia. How they'd lived in Nispet Village and spent ages training to be good enough to form their team, how their parents had disapproved of their dreams, how they'd gone on the run and finally ended up in Izolo Village.

Alesia sat listening intently for several minutes, her expression changing to reflect the surprise she felt.

"Oh, you poor thing!" she exclaimed at last, and grabbed Popplio and hugged him. "It's a good thing you were around, Riolu!" she said, still sounding highly upset. "No one should have to live through that."

"Thank you, Alesia…" Popplio said, smiling at the gesture.

Riolu observed everything. Seeing Alesia comfort Popplio was giving him newfound respect for her. In spite of her perceived faults, anyone who treated his friend well was a good person in Riolu's book.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?" Riolu requested.

Alesia knew it was only fair. She was counting on them not to tell anyone else she used to be a human, but even without that she wouldn't dream of revealing this information. "I promise."

"Because we all look out for each other!" Popplio's words couldn't have rung truer.

* * *

That night, Lapras came to a halt. Sweeping Rapids was hard to see at night, but it made its presence clear with the sound of its waterfalls.

Popplio, Riolu, and Alesia got off him, onto the land. "Thanks for the ride," Alesia addressed Lapras.

"You're very welcome, young lady." Lapras smiled. "I trust you're going to get a good night's rest so you can be of assistance to your team tomorrow?"

"Absolutely! She's a valuable member of our team and we wouldn't trade her for anything."

Bet you thought Popplio said that, didn't you? Wrong. That was Riolu.

While Lapras traveled the other way, the trio started to walk back to Izolo Village. Alesia looked to Riolu. "Thank you for that." Riolu was the last person Alesia had expected to give her a glowing testimonial, yet here they were.

"You deserve it. I promise I'll treat you with more respect from now on," Riolu informed her sincerely. "Can you forgive me?"

"Well… you haven't given me a stupid haircut yet," Alesia considered. "Alright, then, but I hope you keep your promise."

They reached the village at long last, then went straight to bed, aiming to get a good night's sleep so they could complete work the next day, this time for the right reasons.


	17. In a Rich 'Mon's World

That morning would have been like any other morning in Izolo Village if their R.E.E.D. team hadn't left. Upon showing themselves after a good night's rest, the trio had been greeted ceremoniously and asked about their previous whereabouts. They'd just made up a story about going to visit family and that had been the end of that.

Now, though, they had to make up for lost time. So they were perusing the bulletin board while everyone else went about their day.

"Hey, Kangaskhan?" Gallade asked the Pokémon running the storage facility. "Can I get the banjo and the music book from my storage space? I couldn't find them in my cupboard, so I must've left them here a while back."

"Certainly, dear." Kangaskhan opened a drawer and rummaged around inside it until she found a key labeled "Gallade". She inserted it into the keyhole on the Deposit Box, which then lit up and opened to reveal Gallade's items inside, magically summoned by the key assigned to him. She took out the banjo and the music book, delicately passing them to him. "That'll be…" She performed some calculations. "450 Poké in fees."

Gallade paid the money, then walked away with his items. As he was making his way back home, he saw Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio heading out for the day. Riolu was holding a wrapped box in one paw, and his unlit torch in the other.

"Ah, there you all are!" he greeted them. "Where are you off to today?"

"We're going to deliver that box to an Aurorus," said Alesia. "He lives some place called… guys?"

"Ricco Beach," Riolu finished for her.

"Really? What's inside?" asked Gallade.

"No idea!" said Popplio. "But we do know that he got in touch with Kecleon via a Pelipper and requested whatever was inside be delivered ASAP. Must've been expensive."

"Why do rich people spend their money on stupid stuff instead of benefiting the world?" Riolu wondered aloud, knowing how costly all that must have been.

"Well, what would _you_ spend _your_ money on if you were rich?" Gallade asked.

"How about a proper roof for our base?" suggested Alesia, looking at the pit in the ground, covered by tarpaulin. "Sometimes it gets noisy at night."

"Shut up! I was gonna say selfless stuff!" Riolu hissed at her. Then he realized he'd sort of broken his promise from yesterday.

"Well," said Gallade, "at least you kids are all doing your best to help the world. See you later!" Gallade finally entered his house.

"Maybe you shouldn't complain," Alesia commented to Riolu. "After all, we're going to get some of that money ourselves. Incidentally, did you forget your promise?"

"That doesn't count," Riolu decided insistently. "That was too soon after I made it to count. I still need to get used to it. Now let's move."

The trio walked out of the village, followed the pathway nestled between the trees, and emerged into the sunlight now that it was unobstructed by the trees that provided so much shade.

Riolu checked the map. In front of them, there was Ambient Cave, and of course Sweeping Rapids was in the distance. "Ricco Beach is the other way." Riolu started to walk around the circle that the trees containing Izolo Village were arranged in, and stopped halfway around, his companions stopping behind him shortly thereafter.

"Now, this'll take us a while," Riolu told them as he resumed walking, "but the reward will be worth it. Ricco Beach is on the other side of Hollow Scarp."

"Oh yeah, that last one is the place with Steelix living inside, right?" Popplio said.

"That's right," said Riolu. "Tons of 'em."

Alesia seemed uneasy at the idea. Noticing, Riolu was just about to tell her to suck it up and stop worrying, but caught himself, and instead resumed explaining his game plan. "The Steelix are living inside the narrow crevices in the rock, but the cave leads the same way and is safer."

"Why?" asked Alesia.

"It just has Zubat and the like living inside," Riolu explained. "Annoying, for sure, but they'll be easier to handle."

* * *

The group finished walking upon reaching a mound of orange rock, stretching for a few miles. There was an opening visible to them, but given how small the space inside seemed to be, it wasn't too welcoming.

"What we have here is Scorched Passage," said Riolu. "Steelix don't live in there because it's too small."

"Yeah…" Alesia timidly agreed, claustrophobia kicking in. "It's… it's small… perfect for trapping us…"

"Alesia, will you just—" This time, Riolu caught himself, and adjusted the remainder of his statement accordingly. "...accept the compliment I'm giving you about your hair? I'd never want to cut it."

Forgetting her concerns for the time being, Alesia grinned knowingly. "Sure…"

"If we just follow the map, we'll reach the promised land!" Popplio declared in an attempt to quell Alesia's fears. He was the first to go in.

When all three of them were sufficiently far inside, it was rather dark.

"Someone hold this?" Riolu requested, rattling the box he was holding. Popplio obliged, and Riolu took a few steps back before he lit a match which he dropped into his torch he'd filled with material that morning, causing a sudden burst of fire that then settled down, showing them the way. So they followed the path according to their map.

The constant twists and turns worried Alesia as to whether they could possibly be stuck inside. She needed reassuring that this was the path indicated by the map, and that since Braviary knew where they were, he could arrange for help if they didn't return.

Riolu, on the other hand, considered this to be a significant improvement over Cutthroat Maze, for its lack of sharp stalactites or stalagmites. "We haven't even found any Zubat yet!" he remarked, ducking to avoid a lumpy segment of the ceiling that protruded toward the team. "I'd say it's going rather well."

After several minutes, Popplio had started singing in an attempt to pass the time. "Karma karma karma karma karma Charmeleooooon!" he belted out during his performance. "You come and gooooo! You come and g—ow!" He had failed to notice a rock in front of him and now had to rub his sore nose.

Eventually, his performance concluded.

"Not bad!" Alesia complimented. "Next, can you do… uh…"

"Um, well, it's actually Riolu's turn to choose," Popplio said, wanting to make sure everybody got a fair number of turns to choose songs. "So, Riolu, what do you want?"

"Never mind that now," Riolu dismissed. "Look at this."

They had reached what appeared to be a dead end. "Uh, guys?" said Alesia. "Can I see that map?"

Popplio gave her the map for her to examine. According to it, the path was supposed to continue past this point.

"Have we really been following the correct path?" she asked, her uneasiness from earlier returning. "How are we supposed to proceed past a dead end?"

Riolu pointed downward. There was a short gap where the wall in front of them would have connected to the floor, which itself was curved downward starting several inches away from the incomplete wall.

"But how are we supposed to get through? It looks too small!" Alesia fretted.

"Maybe it's a musical door that'll unlock if we sing some more?" suggested Popplio. "Did either of you happen to bring a viola or bass? We can just beatbox if you didn't."

"I don't think that's it," Riolu decided. "It looks like we can fit. This place is too small to safely get rid of the wall with Focus Blast. I'll go first."

So he gave his torch to Popplio to hold, then lay down on the floor, his chest flat on the surface, and crawled forward, pushing himself through the narrow gap. First his head, then both his front paws, then the rest of his torso, and finally his two feet came out the other end of the wall.

"Now, Popplio," he said to his partner who remained on the other side. "Put out the flame, keep holding the torch, and lie on the floor facing away from the wall, and I'll pull you through."

Popplio shook the torch until the flame was extinguished, leaving them in darkness again, albeit temporarily. He lay on his belly and moved his tail through the gap in the wall. He felt Riolu grab him and start pulling him. With an audible _POP!_ , he was on the other side too, having taken the torch with him, which he returned to Riolu.

Riolu re-lit his torch, thereby re-illuminating the cave. "Alright, Alesia, your turn."

Anxious, she got down onto the floor and started to edge her way into the gap.

The nagging feeling that she might break her neck from having to squeeze through didn't stop until she was mostly through, with just a little way to go. Unfortunately, she had come to a standstill. Her large, bushy tail simply would not fit through the gap comfortably.

From the other side of the wall, there was a faint sound, accompanied by Alesia's eyes turning to pinpricks, before she started shrieking in pain. Hurriedly, Riolu and Popplio grabbed her and tugged at her hard. It was painful, but at least she finally came through and was now reunited with them.

Her pain hadn't stopped, though. She was running in a small circle in pain, and the reason for it became clear. A Zubat had bitten her on the rear end, and now would not let go.

Riolu put his paw over his mouth. Popplio grabbed berries from his satchel and threw them at the Zubat until it let go and started flying away.

"Oh no you don't!" Alesia took aim and sent the radiant stars of a Swift attack flying at the Zubat, which then promptly stopped mid-flight and fell to the floor, unmoving.

The tension finally dissipated. Alesia seethed in pain from the bite.

"Permission to put a band-aid on that?" Popplio asked, taking out a couple of them from the satchel.

"...Okay," Alesia granted, calming down a little.

So Popplio placed a band-aid on each of the two marks the Zubat's teeth had pierced into Alesia's butt.

Riolu removed his paw from his mouth. "Sorry, I was just surprised to see that happen," he excused himself. "But, uh, at least your tail covers up the band-aids."

"Really?" said Alesia, slightly confrontationally. "How can you tell? Been inspecting that area?"

Riolu gulped. "Well, no, it's just that… hey, is that light I see?" He looked the other way and headed there. In truth, he could not see light at all aside from that of his torch. But if he had successfully ended the conversation, he was happy nonetheless.

* * *

The gentle sound of ocean water splishing and splashing provided the atmosphere of Ricco Beach. On one side of the sand, a tall orange wall of rock overlooked not only the beach, but the ocean on the other side of the beach that stretched so far out. Palm trees decorated the sand in various spots, providing an extra ounce of beauty.

A two-storey house was in the center of the beach, painted white with two rows of six large windows on each side. A balcony extended outward in a loop near the top of the building.

There were two openings in the wall of orange rock. One was a crevice, splitting the wall in two. This started the path of Hollow Scarp. The other was a hole that provided one of the two entrances of Scorched Passage.

Out of the latter, Popplio, Riolu, and Alesia emerged. They were relieved to be out of the long, claustrophobic cave, and even more so to see what was obviously the home of their client.

Unused to such a magnificent sight, they cautiously walked up the steps, before finally rapping on the door.

The door opened to reveal a Vigoroth. "Greetings," he told them. Behind him, the team could see a Machoke moving heavy objects so that the surfaces beneath them could be cleaned. "Our master told us to expect a visitor."

"Oh, um, yeah." Riolu nodded. "We have a delivery for him?"

"Certainly. I shall go and find him." The Vigoroth walked away from the doorframe.

A few moments later, an Aurorus showed himself and accepted the package. "Thank you for your services." He reached over and gave them an envelope.

Riolu opened it to find paper bills that served as their payment. "Thanks."

"Now I suppose you'll be off home to Izolo Village?"

Riolu didn't answer straight away. "...How'd you know?"

"That Braviary who runs the village said you'd be coming," Aurorus answered.

"...Right..." Riolu hoped nothing too bad would come of this Pokémon knowing where he and Popplio lived. It made him a little paranoid, but he could at least assure himself that the information wouldn't be too widespread. He and Popplio would eventually become adults, and thus those parents of theirs would lose the power to find them and drag them back to Nispet Village. "Well, it was nice meeting ya." He returned to the cave entrance.

"Excuse me?" said Aurorus. "Where are you off to?"

Riolu stopped and turned around to reveal a confused expression. "...I mean, we're done," he said. "So we're going home."

"But that section of the cave is private property," Aurorus told them. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to take the crevice."

"What? Are you serious? No way!" Riolu refused, his voice a mixture of indignancy and disbelief.

"If you won't comply," Aurorus began slowly, "I'll have to mail a fine to Izolo Village for trespassing."

"But that cave is where Steelix live!" Popplio protested.

"Not my problem. If you really are a competent team, you should be able to handle it."

"Come on," Alesia told them, defeated. "Let's just get it done."

Riolu scowled and led the team away from Ricco Beach, but of course, via the crevice in between the rocks.

* * *

"I guess Pokémon don't have to be of the feral kind to be jerkwads," Popplio commented.

The team traversed the narrow path. On either side of them, tall rocky walls looked and felt almost as if they would close in on them and crush them.

"Riolu?" Alesia began, wanting to check the accuracy of some information he had mentioned earlier. "How can there be Steelix living here if it's so small? Isn't that why there were no Steelix in Scorched Passage?"

"There's a larger segment," Riolu said, and indicated it to her on the map. The thin line representing the path they were walking on was interrupted by an unevenly-drawn circle. "In fact, I think we might be coming to it now."

And he was right. When they walked far enough, the cliffs separated to create a large, open area of sand.

"...Move very carefully," Riolu whispered, and slowly started to cross the expanse of land to reach the other side where they would return to navigating through a narrow passageway.

A deep noise reverberated throughout the area, creating a quaking sensation beneath them. Realizing what that meant, they all hurriedly pressed on.

An enormous, silvery snake burst out of the ground, spraying coarse, rough sand everywhere. It intently stared down the group that had dared to intrude upon its land, its eyes terrifyingly staring them down.

"This is my land," he snarled.

That terrified Alesia even more. Pokémon that lacked the sanity and mental capacity to understand what they were doing as they attacked were scary enough, but now they were in territory of a being who wanted them eradicated and was fully aware of what he was doing.

"L... look," she began. "We don't want any trouble... so can we—"

"What you can do," the Steelix loudly interrupted, its voice leaving a horrible feeling in all three of their stomachs, piercingly sharp like its wide jaw, "is wait here until my father returns and decides what to do with you!"

He raised his head, then slammed into them all, knocking them over. They barely had time to register the pain before he opened his maw wide and forced them all inside before finally slamming his mouth shut.

They were in darkness with barely any space between them and no idea what would become of them once they were eventually let out. The only sources of light were the cracks between the two halves of the Steelix's jaw.

"LET US OUT!" Riolu demanded furiously, banging desperately on the inside of the Steelix's mouth while Alesia hyperventilated, sweating beads, and Popplio did his best to comfort her.

The Steelix did not budge, perfectly able to resist the comparatively-tiny creature's attempts to break free.

Popplio spoke. "Not gonna let us out, huh? Think you can keep us here? Wanna put your money where your mouth is?"

Alesia and Riolu looked at him in disbelief. "Popplio, did you seriously just—"

Alesia only had a few seconds to speak before she was cut off by the intensely-loud noise of uproarious laughter. At the same time it started, light flooded in. The Steelix's mouth was now open.

They jumped out, hitting the ground before getting up and running away before the Steelix finished laughing.

* * *

"...I still can't believe that actually happened." Alesia put a paw to her head.

"What?" said Riolu. "That a Steelix ate us or that Popplio telling a joke saved us?"

"...You know what? Let's not try to quantify them."

After a long walk, the team escaped the cliffs. To their side, they could see the entrance of Scorched Passageway which they had taken earlier that day.

"At least we made it out and know where to go now," Popplio said encouragingly. "Now let's go get our points!"

* * *

"Sorry you kids had to deal with that," the shiny Braviary twin consoled Team Everlasting in the village courthouse that evening as his twin brother fiddled around with the three badges to apply points to them. "But I'm sure the rest of the village would love to hear your story."

"Maybe tomorrow." Riolu yawned. "We're exhausted…"

So after they had gotten their badges back, the trio ate their evening meal and then got ready to go to bed, hoping their drowsiness could wash away the lingering unease.

* * *

That night, when it seemed like Seviper was the only one still awake in Kaia Town, finishing off some paperwork, there was a quiet knock on his door.

He answered it and found an Aurorus standing there, who gave him a wrapped box.

"Magnificccccent." Seviper tore the wrapping off the box with his teeth and then pulled the top off. Inside were two fabric garments. "A Defenssssse Scarf and a Zzzzzinc Band."

"You'll let me know how the plan goes with my son and his partner, yes?"

"Of courssssse." Seviper nodded. "Thank you for your asssssissssstanccccce."


	18. So Proud and So Brave

The day after the fiasco with the rather bothersome and selfish Aurorus, Team Everlasting had been very particular about who they helped, only interested in recipients who would adequately show gratitude instead of causing problems with them for petty reasons. Trevenant may have been a jerk to them, but at least he hadn't acted all sweet and nice at first, Riolu had complained the night before.

Late that afternoon, they came home from having assisted a directionally-challenged Chikorita in rescuing her Axew partner. The duo had thanked the trio profusely, and now the latter had even more points under their belt. They still had a long way to go until they hit Gold Rank, on account of how the point requirement increased with each rank, but they had time to do that so long as they stuck to their regular schedule.

Having been called by Toucannon to see Braviary, they were sitting in his office.

"Alright, team," he began, moving a stack of papers to the side of the desk to remove the block between him and the three Pokémon at the other side of the desk. He clasped his wings together. "I've called you here for a briefing on the Ranks Tournament, since you are, without any shadow of a doubt, going to be participating."

All of them grinned at that. Clearly, this was a mentor who had faith in them.

"There will be twenty-four teams of three," he began. "They only allow so many teams so that the R.E.E.D. force isn't understaffed."

"And we're going to get in even with that slight chance?" Alesia asked skeptically.

"There's no cause to worry." Braviary held up the tips of his wings as he reassured her. "There are tournaments for three different tiers, and you'll be in the C-tier which is held first. The next day, the B-tier tournament will be held, and on the third and final day, the tournament for the A-tier, for a total of seventy-two teams." He leaned in closer. "And there aren't as many Ice Continent participants as Magma Continent participants, so you'll spice things up. And a team who defeated Melmetal? They'll be begging to have you!"

Having suitably encouraged them, he leaned back into his chair. "One of you will be selected at random to fight an also randomly-selected member of a team of three. Whichever team wins either two or all three of those battles goes through to the next round until one team emerges victorious from the final battle. But there are rules attached."

"Like what?" asked Riolu.

"Each battle is to last no longer than thirty minutes," said Braviary. "Not that they ever do. In such an event that the time elapses, whichever Pokémon is in better condition wins. No items are permitted, so you'll be required to turn in those scarves of yours..." He pointed at the garments tied around their necks. "But full healing will be provided between every battle. And there will be a prize for the top three positions."

Their eyes glistened in excitement at the news.

"And that's about all you should know," Braviary finished. "They'll go over it again at Honor Stadium."

"I can't wait to see it!" Popplio wagged his tail.

"Well..." Braviary rubbed his chin. "Would you like to?"

"You have pictures of it?" asked Alesia.

"You _could_ see some pictures of it..." Braviary smiled as he got up from his chair, then he spread his wings out and ducked a little to the ground. "Or I could do you one better."

The team knew what he meant. The two boys were quite eager to take Braviary up on his offer, but Alesia needed a few moments to consider. She'd been terrified the first time a Pokémon had taken her for a ride in the sky, but then again, that hadn't gone _too_ horribly.

"Then let's go!"

"One more thing," said Braviary. "I can only carry two of you on my back. One of you will have to be held in one of my talons."

Alesia's fear returned as quickly as it had subsided. "N-n-n-nope!"

"I'll do it!" volunteered Popplio, raising his fin.

Braviary nodded. "Thank you for your offer."

Riolu wondered if that would be more fun. "Can I go in the other talon?"

Braviary was confused, but saw no reason not to allow it. A Pokémon in each talon would keep him more balanced in the air, anyway.

Outside was his twin, carrying a book. "Oh, um, brother!" Braviary greeted the unexpected sight. "Wasn't expecting you home so early. Did you find that book you wanted?"

"Hm?" Snapped out of his trance, the shiny twin's eyes shifted to see the other Pokémon. "Yes, here." His gaze returned to the book.

"Are we still having classes tomorrow morning, Mister Braviary?" asked Popplio.

"Certainly." The brown-feathered Braviary smiled faintly at him, pleased he had someone to share his knowledge with. Then he quickly retreated into the courthouse.

The Kecleon brothers gave the remaining quartet some rope to keep Alesia on the dark blue-feathered Braviary's back, and then Kangaskhan, being on the taller side of the spectrum of heights of residents of Izolo Village, helped tie Alesia to Braviary.

With their preparations complete, Braviary finally grabbed Riolu and Popplio with his talons and soared high into the air. He got his body into a more even position until he was finally looking straight forward, passing through clouds as Riolu and Popplio spread their arms and flippers respectively outward, pretending as best as they could that they really were flying by themselves. They laughed with glee and cheered, watching the world below them pass by, though it seemed so slow compared to their speed thanks to the sheer distance between them and the ground.

Even Alesia found herself smiling, though she did not release her tight grip in the slightest.

* * *

Gorgeous orange skies and breathtaking grey mountains served as the grand finale of the flight. Having crossed over from the Ice Continent to the Magma Continent, Braviary slowed down as he slowly made his way down to the ground. The three Pokémon on his back briefly looked around for the object of their desire until they laid eyes on a magnificent structure.

A single impossibly-tall beige stone wall looped in an oval, with the top of the wall looking rather close to the group of Pokémon's vision compared to the ground. Pillars marked the outside in a regular pattern with a roof held up by those tall structures. Here they were. Honor Stadium.

Then Braviary invited himself, and by proxy, the smaller Pokémon he was carrying, into the stadium for a closer look, through the gap between the roof and the wall.

Inside the stadium was a flat green rectangle of land on the ground. Emblazoned on it was a symbol of a circle, split in half with a smaller circle smack dab in the center.

Alesia put her front paws to her head, attempting to concentrate on what was currently going through her mind.

"Uh, Alesia? Does something hurt in there?" asked Popplio, noticing.

"No, it's just that... that symbol on the ground. I think... I think I recognize it..."

"Have you lived in the Magma Continent previously?" asked Braviary.

"No," said Alesia. "But..." She quickly realized she was saying too much. "Y'know what, let's just not think about that. Hehe."

As Braviary brought them lower to the ground, they observed the dozens, nay, hundreds of rows of seats facing toward the center of the stadium. Sure, they were empty now, but they would inevitably be filled with spectators come the first day of the tournament.

For the first time in hours, Braviary touched the ground, after releasing Riolu and Popplio from the grip of his talons. Riolu then untied Alesia.

"Thanks," she said, sliding off Braviary. "That rope was so tight..." Not that she wanted it any other way, obviously.

"This place is magnificent!" Riolu exclaimed, taking in the sights. He slowly rotated on the spot, looking around him in a daze.

Pokémon in every seat of the stadium cheered the name of Team Everlasting, in awe at their victory, while the three of them stood on a podium, the second and third place winners lower down...

"Riolu?" He was snapped out of his daydream by Popplio shaking him by the shoulders. "You kinda zoned out there."

"Whuh?" Riolu blinked. Sure enough, there were no other Pokémon present in Honor Stadium besides the four of them, and there was no podium he was standing on. "Oh. You're right."

"My brother and I have come to watch every Ranks Tournament held here ever since childhood," Braviary recalled. He spread out his wings and guided the three team members together. "But thanks to you all, we're going to have our best tournament yet, I just know it."

"We won't let you down, sir!" Riolu proudly affirmed, saluting. Alesia saw, and hoped they could keep that promise.

"I trust you shan't." Braviary grinned. "Now, then, I think it's about time we made our way home."

* * *

The flight back home hadn't been as exciting or tension-filled as the flight to the Magma Continent. The first time, Team Everlasting had been imagining what Honor Stadium would be like and how it would amaze them. The second flight obviously hadn't had the same luxury.

It was now late at night, and Braviary released the team from his grip once more and prepared to go inside. He opened the door to see his brother, still occupied with the book from earlier.

"Hello again, team." He waved at them. "Did you enjoy Honor Stadium?"

"You betcha!" said Popplio. "You should've come!"

The brown-feathered twin looked down at the pages of his book and sighed. "Yes... it would have been nice if I could have done such a thing..."

He closed the book. "I will see you tomorrow."

"Sure thing!" Popplio smiled and nodded.

* * *

Popplio invited himself into the courthouse the next morning, ready for class. The team didn't often take days off, so he knew to spend them wisely. "Morning, mister Braviary sir!" he happily greeted the dark blue-feathered twin.

"Why, good morning, boy." Braviary gestured to the door next to him. "My brother is in there."

So Popplio opened that door. Inside was the same courtroom Alesia had been brought to on her very first day in the village. Of course, the seats were unoccupied. All of them except for where the judge would sit. Like that first day, the brown-feathered Braviary twin was positioned at the head of the court. But this time around, he wasn't doing a rather poor job of filling in for his brother's duties. No, he was simply using this empty space to carry out his studies.

He looked up. "Ah, Popplio! Glad you could make it!"

Popplio beamed and sat on the other chair so that he was facing Braviary. Ever since he'd moved the chair to this spot, it had remained there, ready for him to use.

"Are you ready for your Pisekian test?"

"Sure am!" Popplio took out a pen and helped himself to a blank sheet of paper. "Are we gonna go back to Belarrian after this?"

"I suppose, if you prove to be well-versed," Braviary answered. "Incidentally, how do you and your friends intend to reach the Ranks Tournament on the day?"

"We'll use the Lapras Liner!" Popplio explained.

"Do you recommend that?" asked Braviary. "Or should I stick with Flygon Airlines?"

Popplio tilted his head, greatly confused. "Why do you need to use that? Aren't you a Flying-type?"

Braviary sighed, the same sigh from yesterday when Popplio had wished that he had accompanied his brother and Team Everlasting to the Magma Continent to see Honor Stadium firsthand. "That's... not true. You see... I... I lack the ability to fly."

"...Oh." Popplio frowned. "I'm... I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Please, don't feel the need to apologize," Braviary said. "You're not the responsible one for this."

"We, uh," Popplio started uncertainly. "We don't have to keep talking about it if you don't wanna."

"It's all fine. I trust you," Braviary said. "Everyone in the village knows my story. I think it's only fair you do too."

He paused before he began. "Five years ago, my brother and I... we were staying at Honor Stadium overnight on our three-day stay between the second and third days. Has he already explained about the three-day structure?"

"Mhm." Popplio nodded.

"Well, then... I hadn't yet fallen asleep. And I heard some sort of noise from outside. So I went outside to investigate and what did I see but an Eevee?"

Eevee... that was what Alesia was. But she couldn't be the one Braviary was telling him about, surely? That must have been impossible if she had previously been a human, and it certainly had not been five years since he and Riolu had discovered her.

"And she was quite obviously trying to break into the safe in the wall," Braviary went on. "She was standing on a chair, and fumbling about with a set of keys. She turned around when she saw me, then leapt off the stool, abandoned the keys, and tried to run away... I flew after her and tackled her to the ground, intending to take her to the relevant authorities."

"And did you?" asked Popplio.

"I wish I could have," Braviary uttered. "But that was when things were about to change forever... she screamed for help and that someone was unjustifiably assaulting her. And I heard simply the fastest running steps from further up the corridor. Next thing I knew, I was thrown aside with my assailant on top of me. He clamped my wing in his teeth and the pain unlike anything I'd felt before... then he and the Eevee ran away."

"Did they ever catch them?" asked Popplio.

"No," Braviary answered. "They got away far too quickly for that. I was rushed to the medic and that was where I got the news..."

He spread out his right wing. "My bones in this wing were broken beyond repair... I would never fly again... the closest I can do is ride on other Pokémon..." He was lying to himself if he thought that was comparable to flying under his own power. That was a sensation he'd never experience again.

Popplio was horrified at the story. "That's... but that's awful!"

"It's not the end of the world," Braviary said in an attempt to soothe Popplio and comfort himself. "At least there's nothing I can't do that non-Flying Pokémon can."

"Listen, I, uh..." Popplio got up from his seat. "I don't feel right being here right now... can we maybe do this test later?"

"Of course." Braviary nodded. "Take all the time you need. And feel free to share what we've just talked about with your teammates if you wish."

Popplio certainly would. They had to know.


	19. Answers, Please?

Popplio scurried through the village and ended up at the steps that led down into the team base. "Guys!" he called as he came downstairs, where Alesia and Riolu were playing cards. "I got something important to tell you."

"Well, what is it?" asked Alesia, putting her cards down and turning to see Popplio.

So Popplio recounted to them everything he'd learned minutes prior. About the Braviary twins, about how the brown-feathered one had caught an Eevee attempting to break into a safe, about how he'd tried to stop her and paid the price for it...

"That's..." Alesia brushed her paw on the ground. "That's real unfortunate."

"Didn't they ever catch her?" asked Riolu.

"No." Popplio shook his head. "I mean, she hadn't managed to steal anything before she was gone, so I guess they didn't consider her a high priority." He suddenly seemed angry. "Preventing someone from flying again seems like something that deserves to be brought to justice if you ask me."

"Guys..." Alesia said. "I hope you don't think I—"

"Did that?" finished Riolu. "Course not! There are more Eevee in the world than just you, y'know."

"But there was an Eevee who came here and made off with a book," Alesia pointed out. She clutched her forehead. "Are they the same? Did the different-colored Braviary twin have some sort of connection with her?"

"Alesia..." Popplio placed a flipper on her. "I'm sure everything will become clear sooner or later."

"But how?" Alesia protested. She gathered up the playing cards and placed them back into the satchel they had been kept in. "I haven't learned a thing about—"

She paused when her eye caught something in the satchel. Amongst a ball-in-a-cup and a board game box was a wooden spinning top toy. She absent-mindedly took it out and inspected it. The brown hue turned to silver and purple right before her eyes.

"Alesia?" Riolu waved his paw in front of her eyes.

Startled, Alesia rapidly blinked and leant back a little. "Sorry... just getting a sense of déjà vu from this." The spinning top hadn't really changed color, of course.

Popplio gasped loudly and grabbed Alesia by the cheeks, pressing her face against his to look her directly in the eyes. "Do you realize what this means?! You just got a little closer to unlocking the mystery!"

"You, er..." Riolu signaled to Popplio that he should probably let go of Alesia now. Popplio complied. "You did remember a few things about your life before, right? Those names... Si-nnoh? Al-mia?" He racked his brain for the other name. "Can... Canalave City?"

"I don't see how that brings me any close to finding out," Alesia lamented. "I just know there were other humans living there."

"You're not a time traveler, are you?" asked Popplio. "What if you come from a time before all of humanity was somehow wiped out?"

"It sure would explain how we seem to have no trouble communicating," added Riolu. "Aliens from another planet would probably have a major case of cultural barriers."

"Well, did the places I said ever exist?" asked Alesia. "Maybe Trevenant would know? We did go to his place so I could learn all about the past of this world."

* * *

A bell chimed above the door as the three members of Team Everlasting entered the bookstore. For Riolu, it was his first time entering ever since he'd come to purchase a notebook to record he and Popplio's exploits, only to be treated with the harshness and suspicion that had given Riolu his short-lived personal grudge against Trevenant.

"Hello?" said Alesia.

Trevenant turned around, putting down the duster he'd been brushing the shelves with. "Why, hello there, kids. Can I help you?"

"You know the apocalypse, for lack of a better term?" asked Alesia. "The one that took out humans. Well, I—" She tensed up suddenly when she realized she'd have to word this in a way that didn't imply she had been one of those creatures herself. "I heard some names from somewhere one time and I was wondering what they mean."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" asked Trevenant.

She gave him a small scrap of paper with the names, "Sinnoh", "Almia", and "Canalave City". "I found those in a book one time and I was wondering if they ever really existed."

"I could have a look for you," said Trevenant. "But it may take a while."

"You will? Thanks!" said Alesia.

"Now, then, are you kids going anywhere today?"

"We are, in fact," said Popplio. "We have to go rescue a Pikachu and a Fennekin from Fiery Light Tomb."

"Thanks for all your help," Riolu told Trevenant. "Let's go, team!"

* * *

Team Everlasting returned to Izolo Village later that evening after a hard day's work. Ordinarily, their first stop would be at Braviary's courthouse to redeem their points, but for this particular evening, they instead stopped at Trevenant's bookstore.

"Hi, Trevenant," Alesia greeted. "Did you find anything?"

"No. Sorry, kids." Trevenant shrugged as he gave the list back to Alesia. "I got in touch with the National Pokémon History Bureau and they found no evidence that the names on the list ever existed."

"Right..." Alesia seemed disappointed. "Thank you anyway."

She, Riolu, and Popplio left. Before they could resume their earlier conversation, they would need to be out of everyone else's earshot.

"If those places never existed," said Popplio, "then that must mean your world is separate from ours, Alesia. No timey-wimey travel-wavel stuff here!"

"That's a start, I guess," she conceded.

Now that that was done, it was finally time to go to Braviary to get their points.

He was most pleased to see them. "Ah, hello again, team!" He took the badges so he could apply the points to them.

While he was doing that, he eagerly told them about the arrangements for the Ranks Tournament. "I've already arranged Lapras Liner transport for everyone."

"Will everyone be here on the day?" asked Riolu. "Pretty sure Gallade left only this morning to go do some tutoring."

Braviary nodded. "Yes, I've already checked it through thoroughly."

"Everyone?" Alesia repeated. "But... no one will be around to run any shops. Won't that be bad?"

"Young lady..." Braviary began. "I'm sure you're aware how small our village is, yes? It won't matter in the slightest if we're all gone for a day."

He gave them back their badges. "I think it's been about four months since we last had a trial here... if I recall correctly, Kangaskhan accidentally damaged Ferrothorn's wall while testing some sports equipment of hers. You'd be surprised at what a single baseball can do when it's fast enough."

"How many people know this place even exists?" commented his twin brother from the other side of the room. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I went through when I had to call the police to come and apprehend the Klefki bandits."

* * *

 _Several days earlier..._

In the cell built into the interior wall of the courthouse, the three Klefki glumly awaited their fates.

Braviary looked at the rotary telephone on his brother's desk. At the side of that was an added component with buttons that could be pressed to call a preset number. He looked down the list until he found a label with "POLICE" written on it. He pressed the button directly below it and waited until the conversation began.

"Hello?" he started. "We've got three bank robbers here." ... "Yep, we need the coppers here right away." ... "Izolo Village." Braviary turned around and leant over to the bookshelf before pulling out a copy of Concise Precise World Atlas.

"Do you have a map of some sort available?" he asked the speaker on the other end, opening the book and flickering through the pages until he found the map of the Ice Continent. "You're based in Kaia Town, right? From there, it's down, then take a left, and when you reach Sweeping Rapids, turn right. When you see a thick expanse of trees, that's where we are." ... "No, you're looking at Picco Beach. No, above it isn't Izolo Village, that's Placid Palace. Wait... you're looking at the map upside-down, aren't you?"

Braviary buried his face in his wing. "Just turn it the right way. Oh, forget it, look, I'll turn my map upside-down and then we can keep doing it that way." He rotated the book roughly one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. "Now follow the dotted line... what do you mean you're using an old version of the map that doesn't have our village on it?! How can the police force not have accurate, up-to-date information?!"

...

"FERALIGATR'S PIZZA DELIVERY SERVICE?!" Braviary screeched. He promptly looked down at the phone. As it turned out, the button he'd pressed contacted Feraligatr's Pizza Delivery Service, not the police, and every label corresponded to the button directly above it, not below it.

"No, I said we need coppers, not peppers! And we're not having a costume party, these are ACTUAL BANK ROBBERS!" He slammed the phone down in fury.

He whirled around in his chair to see the Klefki trio in their cage. "You think robbing banks is hard, TRY USING THIS BLASTED TELEPHONE!"

* * *

The dark blue-feathered twin cleared his throat. "All I'm saying is, your big day is by far valuable enough for us to make time to come and watch. We know you'll make us all proud."

"You got it, sir!" Popplio agreed.

"But..." Braviary shuffled some papers into a stack and placed them aside. "I think it's time we all got some shut-eye."

The trio turned to leave. "Night."

* * *

"Tyrunt." Seviper produced a box which he placed on the desk. "I'd like to thank your father for bringing thisssss."

Inside the box were two scarves.

"I'll make the necessary adjustmentsssss to theessssse," Seviper informed them. "And that concludesssss our talk."

"We won't let you down, sir," Tyrunt promised. "We'll bring home that prize money." He got up from his chair. "Come on, Steenee."

Steenee followed him outside into the night, with Kaia Town empty of all except them. He turned around and leaned in close to her. "Now you're going to follow that plan right down to the last letter," he ordered. "Mess this up and you and your family are out in the cold."


	20. Finally Here

**A/N: This story now has cover art! Thanks to All0412 on DeviantArt.**

* * *

Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio came home one late afternoon after completing their work for that day, yet another rescue mission. By the time they got into Braviary's courthouse, he'd already received news of the task's completion.

"Excellent job, team!" he told them. "Now, I'll have your badges."

They handed over their badges and he took them aside so he could apply the points to them. He came back when he was done and returned the badges. "I must say, you're preparing well for the tournament."

"We have to, right?" said Popplio. "It's not like we can leave things 'til the last minute."

"I do wish there was less paperwork to be done around here." There were taxes to be paid, records on the village's treasury and inventory to be written, permits to be obtained to advertise the village's available living space (not that the last thing was going too well)... it was all such a bore compared to what the team's near-daily adventures must have been like. "I'd love to see you in action personally. It's rather unfortunate I didn't get to see your battle capabilities like I was supposed to before you became a team."

Riolu thought about that. "Why didn't we have to do that? Y'know, prove we were tough?"

Braviary scowled. "Because that brother of mine doesn't know how to run things around here." He shook his head. This was all in the past, and no amount of complaining would change it. He'd simply have to find someone else to leave in charge next time he left. "But there'd be no point in making you do it now."

"That's fair enough, I guess." Riolu picked up the satchel off the floor and gave it to Popplio. The team headed for the door. "Bye now!"

"Hold it!" chirped Toucannon, perched on a bookcase. "Sir, did you not wish to attend to further business with them?"

"Oh, of course," Braviary recalled. "Wait! There's one more thing," he told the team, who stopped and went back to his desk. "I need to get your prints so I can send them to the Ranks Association in the Magma Continent. They'll use them to verify your identity."

He reached into a cabinet and pulled out a jar. He led the team outside, then unscrewed the lid. The smell of ink wafted out, causing them all to wince momentarily (save for Popplio who inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent).

Braviary set three sheets of paper onto the ground, one for each team member, First Popplio, then Riolu, and finally Alesia dipped their flipper or paw into the ink, shook it slightly to get rid of the excess ink, then placed it down onto a sheet of paper.

"Now we'll just leave these here to dry." Braviary placed glass bowls on top of the papers in case it were to rain, leaving the papers face-up so that the ink on them wouldn't trickle.

* * *

One early morning, Gallade was walking back to Izolo Village. After finishing a week of private tutoring, he'd completed most of the journey home via air. But once he was done with the walk home, he was reasonably certain he'd go to Ferrothorn Bank to deposit the payslips held within the envelopes he was clutching, then relax with some banjo practice.

He needed something to get his mind off the embarrassment he'd endured. "You're very welcome, and feel free to visit me in Izolo Village at… Wobbuffet Dojo," he'd joylessly told his clients as he'd handed them a business card.

He hoped, with enough success, that he would make a tidy profit and be able to move out of the village, away from that home he'd settled for. He was, after all, trying to stretch out his Wobbuffet grandfather's inheritance as long as possible. These arrangements might have been more acceptable if said grandfather hadn't insisted on saddling his grandson with an unfittingly-named home he could do nothing about.

' _Thanks, Pops,'_ he said in his head with sarcastic cheer. He daren't express his distaste with his situation aloud, though. Speaking ill of your late relatives' gifts was a breach of your agreement to behave in a way mandated by civilized society, after all.

With any luck, maybe he'd even be able to convince Kangaskhan to move in with him, hampering his two neighbors' chances of winning her affection.

The moment he stepped into the village from the winding pathway, Kangaskhan was there to greet him. She held a finger to her lips and seemed overexcited and giggly as she told Gallade to "Shhh!"

"Uh..." Gallade spoke in a quiet voice. Noticing that the other residents of the village seemed to have halted activity in favor of looking at him and Kangaskhan, he asked, "What's going on exactly?"

Kangaskhan leaned close to him and whispered into his ear. He liked what he heard, and grinned.

"And now that everyone's here, we can go tell them!" Kangaskhan whispered.

She tiptoed over to the pit in the ground of the village and leant over to see Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio all sleeping.

Kangaskhan waved at them. "Pssst!"

The sound pierced through their dreams and woke them all up. They were somewhat surprised to see what looked like the entire village looking down at them. Kangaskhan, both Braviary twins, Gallade, both Kecleon brothers, yes, even Trevenant, you name it.

"So sorry to startle you," the blue-feathered Braviary apologized. "But we have something to tell you. Remember last night when you came back from delivering something, then brought in your badges to get your points?"

"Yeah?" said Alesia.

"Well… it seems I made a mistake and didn't give you enough."

"That's okay! We can get them for you." Popplio grabbed the badges and brought them up the stairs to give to Braviary, who then left to return to his office.

"Why did all of you come here just for Braviary — specifically the one in charge — to say he didn't give us enough points?" asked Riolu as Popplio came back down the stairs.

"Well... there's a surprise for you when he gets back," said his brother.

"In hindsight, this was poorly-planned," the green Kecleon admitted, looking in the direction of the courthouse, waiting for Braviary to return.

He did so a minute or so later, and was holding something tightly in his wings. "Alright, here they are."

Riolu came up the stairs to get the badges, which Braviary released from his grasp and emptied into Riolu's paws. They all seemed fine, with their white bases, golden stars on the front...

Golden stars.

He looked again. Sure enough, the two four-point stars were different colors from before. The one at the back was now silver while the one at the front was gold.

"G... G-g-g... Gol... Gold..." The blood flow to his brain cutting off, Riolu's eyes rolled back into his head as his eyelids sealed over them. The weight planted onto the ground by his feet was lifted as he lost consciousness. He tumbled down the stairs, too quickly for anyone to react. It was only once he was at the bottom that the reality of what was going on set in to the others.

Popplio looked over him in concern while Alesia stood silently, overwhelmed. "I guess pride can really... hmm... go to someone's head?" she concluded, not sure what else she could say in response to what she had just witnessed. She hadn't really planned in advance to say that. It had sort of just slipped out. "Oh dear, I hope he's still alive."

Time passed, filled with tension over Riolu's state.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Popplio anxiously waited for results as Gallade examined Riolu. "Please tell me he's gonna be okay!"

"He'll be fine," Gallade reassured Popplio.

"Yeah, he'll be _fine_ , but is he gonna be _okay?!_ "

Gallade blinked. To him, a distinction between the two didn't exist — at least not in this circumstance — but he saw no harm to appeasing Popplio by catering to his... ahem... quirks. "Yes, he's both fine and okay. I should know, I'm required to be able to tell in order to teach classes."

At that moment, Riolu groaned as he stirred out of his unconscious state. He held his head. "What happened?"

"You passed out, buddy!" Popplio hugged him.

"...How long was I out?"

"Ages! You were out for ages!"

"He means two or three minutes," Alesia clarified.

"You saw we reached Gold Rank and that's what did it!"

Riolu remembered the news, and felt like he was about to pass out yet again. He put his paw to his head and managed to stay conscious. ' _Nope. Can't pass out again. It'll be an endless cycle.'_

He broke out into a grin and grabbed his teammates, twirling them around in a dance. Alesia gave a "Whoooaaa!" of protest at first, then endured the dance until Riolu let go of them both. It was a little uninvited, but an improvement over his previous constant heckling of her.

"We did it! We actually did it!" Riolu continued to celebrate. "Everybody get your butts over to the sea! We have several Lapras to ride!"

"Well..." The blue-feathered Braviary scratched behind his neck with his wing. "That's not for another three days."

Riolu's face fell. "Oh. Right."

* * *

Before they'd gotten to Gold Rank, the team, particularly Riolu, had been in a considerable panic to get enough points as fast as possible. Every ticking second had counted as they'd scraped by, doing whatever would efficiently get them the points they had so desperately craved. But now that their goal had been accomplished, and with three days left until the tournament commenced, they were having the opposite problem; the time they still had left to wait out felt like an eternity, like it would never happen.

But, alas, their suffering was brought to a close when the morning did eventually come, that day when the residents of Izolo Village were boarding the several Lapras that had arrived at the designated location. This, of course, included Riolu and Popplio's old friend who had known about the arrangements in advance and had insisted that he come to pick them up personally.

Since no items were allowed to be used during the contest, Alesia, Riolu, and Popplio had all removed their scarves and placed them in the bag which would be held for safekeeping once they reached the stadium, and they all sat together on Riolu and Popplio's friend's back.

The other residents of the village were still choosing amongst the rest of the Lapras. Trevenant was with his son, keeping a watchful gaze on him. He might not have allowed his son to go on such a long journey across the deep ocean if Riolu hadn't spent enough time reiterating that it would be impossible for Phantump to fall into the water, but even if he could, Popplio could jump in to help.

The peculiar thing about the group of Lapras was that they were all wearing sunglasses, all of the pairs of the same color and shape.

"Hey, Lapras, you're looking pretty neat," Riolu complimented his friend, then reached into his bag for the Insomniscope, keen to make a similar impression.

Alesia saw what he was about to do and smacked the sunglasses out of his grasp. They fell into the water with a _plop_ , becoming smaller and fainter the further it sank. "No. It was stupid the first time."

Popplio hadn't been paying attention to the exchange, but turned to look at them. "What's going on, guys?"

Somewhat annoyed with his long-eared teammate, Riolu opened his mouth to explain the situation, but Alesia was quick on the draw. "Nothing. We haven't lost anything. So there's nothing you need to swim down and retrieve."

"So what _is_ with the shades?" the Braviary in charge of the village asked.

"These are X-Ray Specs," the lead Lapras informed them. "It's going to get pretty foggy where we're going."

Kangaskhan was currently by herself. Currently.

"Ah, I see you've got space for one more." Gallade flashed her his best smile as he prepared to get onto the Lapras. "Storage space, if you will." Internally, he kicked himself for what he had failed to recognize as an awful joke.

"I believe I should occupy it." The purple Kecleon twin hopped ahead of Gallade. "I'll take up less room, after all."

The brown-feathered Braviary overtook them both. "Sorry, m'lady. With me around, you won't have to listen to two Pokémon who bicker like children."

"You did the same thing at that party we had a few weeks ago," Gallade reminded him.

Braviary whipped his head around. "I most certainly did not!"

"And there's your contradiction right there," Kangaskhan told him matter-of-factly, unimpressed with his attempt to elevate himself above her other two suitors.

The only Pokémon remaining who both lacked a Lapras and had not provoked Kangaskhan's ridicule was Toucannon. So he got onto the Lapras with her, while the shiny Braviary twin sat with his brother and Gallade, and the purple Kecleon sat with the latter's green brother. The trio of suitors exchanged glares with each other while Kangaskhan giggled with mockery.

"Everyone aboard?"

Everyone answered the head of the village in the affirmative.

"Good. Off we go! To Honor Stadium!" Lapras declared. And with that, he started the journey across the water, taking the lead while the rest of the Lapras followed him.

* * *

"You're positively going to _love_ Honor Stadium, Gallade!" Popplio gushed, widely gesturing with his flippers. "It's got a podium… and an open roof… and more seats than Braviary's courtroom!"

Gallade frowned. "But there's only, like, thirty seats tops in the courtroom."

"Okay, more seats than a bajillion courtrooms!"

"I think that's a little too high," Alesia mentioned.

"Hmm…" Popplio rubbed his chin, thinking up a better estimate. "The same number of seats as the number of Pokémon who come to watch!"

Gallade blinked. "That's… not wrong."

"Who's hungry?" asked the green Kecleon, producing a box of berries of seeds. He tossed them out for the rest of the group to munch on.

Popplio sniffed his blue berry, only to contort his face into an expression of disgust, say, "Bleeeaaagh," and drop said berry into the water.

"Hey! That's perfectly good food you're throwing away!" the green Kecleon exclaimed, shocked.

"Nope." Popplio shook his head. "That was an Oren Berry. A Lookalike Item. Would've come down with something nasty if I'd eaten that!"

"Ooh, what's a Lookalike Item?" asked Phantump, riding alongside them.

"Items that look like certain items, but aren't," said Riolu.

"You know how the seeds we've been eating are different sizes and shades of yellow?" Popplio added. "And you know that thing called the Blast Seed that makes you shoot fire when you eat it? Specifically out of your mouth? Well, there's another seed that looks exactly like it called the _Blister_ Seed…"

"Popplio, _no_ ," Riolu interrupted. "You are _not_ to tell that story under _any_ circumstances."

"What, you mean when we were helping Kangaskhan sort some items and you—"

"Yes!" Riolu snapped over the sound of Alesia and Kangaskhan giggling at whatever memory he and Popplio were referring to. "That!"

After several more hours killed by singing songs, playing minimalist games, and telling personal anecdotes, any hopes of seeing the stadium from afar had been dashed by the presence of fog, lending a far more atmospheric look to the previously bright and sunny day.

"Papa, I'm scared," Phantump whined, huddling up close to his father.

"I hope you know where we're going," Trevenant sternly told the group of Lapras.

"Yes, of course, that's what these glasses are for," the Lapras they were riding told them.

"We can see it, and you will too once the fog is gone," the one in front added.

Sure enough, the fog soon parted, and the location they all intended to reach became more clear. There were murmurs of wonder and amazement; the sight was a remarkable one to the residents of the rather quaint village that was now miles upon miles away. The Braviary twins were familiar enough with the stadium to simply smile and nod, but all three members of Team Everlasting were at least somewhat impressed by the structure, now that they were seeing it from the outside for the first time. Even with how far away it was, the stone pillars that constituted the walls all worked in tandem to create a tall and imposing exterior. And today, large flags billowed in the wind, adorned with the Ranks Tournament logo of a simplistic, unshaded version of a R.E.E.D. team badge with "Ranks" above it and "Tournament" beneath it.

Compliments to the stadium's size and beauty were passed through the group as they drew closer to the shore. The minutes preceding their arrival were filled with tension over the realization that after weeks of anticipation, the day truly was upon them that they would watch how their beloved team fared in combat.

The aforementioned trio had their own reactions. Riolu and Popplio clasped a paw and a flipper as they looked into each other's eyes, their looks of excitement and determination becoming more similar to each other's the more they stared.

They both turned to Alesia, who had adopted a look of unease at what might become of her in an event centred around beating the snot out of your opponent, but she still offered her own paw to the gesture of camaraderie, albeit with some reluctance as evidenced by her slow speed.

As the shore came closer to them all, the sounds of conversations among hundreds of other Pokémon became more audible, coming from a crowd gathered outside the entrance of the stadium.

The group of Lapras stopped beside the shore and allowed everyone to get off. With promises to see them again once the tournament was done with (after all, how else were they to get home?), the contestants and spectators all went to join the lines.

Now that they were too close to the stadium to see the top of the stadium from a regular angle, Gallade tilted his head upward to take in just how large the structure was, still overwhelmed.

"Here are your prints," the head Braviary told the three members of Team Everlasting, giving each of them a sheet of paper with dried ink. "You show those to the guard and you'll be on your way through." He went to the queue for spectators with the other residents of the village, while the trio remained in the queue specifically for contestants.

Alesia stepped slightly outside the line, poking her head out to see what was ahead. There appeared to be a metal rectangle shape in the ground, hollow in the middle to allow entry.

"That's to detect frauds and people carrying prohibited items, Alesia," Popplio explained. "Oh, and prohibited items are everything since no items are allowed at all. But some items are more prohibited than others and that's what the detector is for."

There was a buzzing sound in front of them. They leaned outside the queue to see a Ponyta galloping away from the scanner, only to be picked up off the ground by a Chesnaught in a flat black cap with a badge on the front, and after some struggling, the Ponyta revealed itself to be a Ditto.

Alesia watched as the "Ponyta" was hauled off the premises. "So that won't go off for us?"

"Not unless you're in disguise," said Riolu. "And I doubt that."

Eventually, they reached the full body scanner and all three were able to enter without a hitch.

But then a Smeargle appeared, wearing the same kind of hat as the Chesnaught. "Prints, please."

The trio handed over their sheets of paper with the ink prints. The Smeargle thoroughly inspected the papers, then the trio's paws/flippers. "Okay, you're good to go."

Now that they were all inside, they got another look at the mastery of craftsmanship called Honor Stadium. But the atmosphere was considerably less calm than the first time, for the previously empty seats were all being filled up by Pokémon. If one were to blink while facing toward the seating areas, they'd swear the seats should not have been able to fill up so fast.

"Hello, guests!"

The voice startled them into turning in the direction it had come from. There was a Comfey, who had made her entry so quietly. "You're three of our contestants! Well, I'm here to take you to your room."

The walk across the entire length of the stadium's floor was a lengthy one, to say the least. But they did eventually reach two doorways several meters apart, somewhat less grand and spectacular than the wide, gaping entrance to the stadium itself.

They entered the left doorway, and with how the corridor inside curved, it became apparent that both doorways went to the same place.

When they reached the door that led to their room, number 436, the Comfey provided them with a key and went on her merry way as Riolu inserted the key and turned it to open the door. There were three beds inside, and a poster on the wall. It wasn't of anything fascinating or extravagant, and in fact consisted of small text in columns.

Alesia read it to find that it revealed the order in which all the contestants would be fighting. By some freak of nature, Team Everlasting just happened to be going first.

"I've got to fight a Honedge," Alesia observed.

Riolu took a gander at it too. "And I've got a Morelull. Looks like you have to take down an Axew, Popplio."

There was no eager response. Noticing this, Riolu turned around to see that Popplio was gone. "Popplio? Where'd he—"

It was then that he spotted another sign on another wall. ' _BATH AND SHOWER ROOM LOCATED IN MIDDLE OF CORRIDOR'_

"Well, that explains it," Riolu decided. "Come to think of it, we should go down there too and freshen up."

"Sounds like a plan," Alesia agreed. "We don't go out to battle for another couple hours."

So they walked together down the corridor, during which they passed something bolted to the wall. A black, metal safe.

Wanting to test its integrity, Riolu knocked on the safe door as if it were a house's door. It didn't so much as vibrate. The safe had clearly been reinforced with thick layers of material. "I guess they wanted to make sure they don't have another robbery."

"...Yeah. I guess so. Sorry, I don't feel comfortable being here," Alesia said rather insistently, continuing the walk.

When they got to the bath and shower room, Popplio was leaving with a towel wrapped around his head. "No water acrobatics in the bath," he muttered distastefully, parroting what he had just been told. He looked up to his two teammates. "It's boring in there. Meet you guys later."

Riolu and Alesia watched as he went back the way they had just come, then went to see the room for themselves. Smack dab in the center of the stone floor, there was a rectangular hole filled with water in which a Wynaut and a Miltank were currently relaxing. The walls held individual booths which each contained two levers, one for controlling the quantity of water, and the other for the temperature.

After showering, the duo took a dip in the bath. The water was warm and soothing, absent even of that sensation when you first get into a warm bath and find it too hot for a few seconds.

* * *

Still adorned with the towel atop his head, Popplio helped himself to a tour of the facilities, surveying the stadium yet again when he encountered two familiar faces, and one not so familiar.

"Oh. Fancy seeing you two again!" he greeted Tyrunt and Steenee, waving to them in the form of folding and unfolding his flipper. "And you for the first time," he said as he looked at the Drilbur.

"Hello? Nice to see you too," the Drilbur replied unsurely, opting to nod his head rather than wave back.

"Right. Well, see ya. We got stuff to do." As Tyrunt turned around, he nudged Steenee with his tail to try and urge her to follow him. She did, and the Drilbur went with them.

"That was awfully abrupt. Almost as if they didn't want to interact with me." Popplio shrugged it off and continued his leisurely stroll, planning to return to the room so he and his two companions could soon make their grand entrance into the stadium all together.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for such a lengthy hiatus. I hit writer's block and also experienced some mental bullshit. I was procrastinating for a while and finally decided that one year after the story's debut was the latest I could go. I'm aware this chapter isn't so hot. Maybe it'll get overhauled later.**


	21. Into the Fray

Alesia stood in the section of the stadium designated for her and her opponent. She looked to her right to see Riolu in the middle of the stadium, and on the remaining third of the stadium's ground was Popplio.

Riolu was currently looking to his right at Popplio, then turned around and saw Alesia from afar and gave her a thumbs up. Alesia tried to look as far to the other end of the stadium as she could for Popplio, and she thought she saw him waving.

Alesia was surrounded from every direction by the sound of Pokémon cheering and shouting, thirsty for the oncoming battles. Several wide pillars around the outside of the stadium, higher than the walls, each had a Pokémon standing on top. Girafarig, Metagross, Gardevoir… soon into her counting, it occurred to Alesia that all of these Pokémon were Psychic-types. They all seemed to close their eyes together, as if they were all concentrating hard on something.

Caught off-guard, she stumbled a little to her left when next to her, a panel of glowing blue energy slowly began to rise up out of the ground. She briefly saw the same thing happening between Riolu and Popplio, and the one next to her stopped rising when it was at the same height as the wall beneath the seats. Alesia was now isolated in her third of the stadium, away from her companions, which served to hammer home the message that she had to be strong, that she couldn't rely on anyone else to win her battle for her.

The seating area around the battle area was unusually tall, with a considerable vertical slope from the top row of seats to the bottom. The higher up one was, the better they would be able to see all three battles simultaneously. How the stadium walls seemed to trap her intimidated Alesia a little, but she forced herself to stand up tall on her four paws, determined not to let down her teammates, and especially herself. If she was to make anything of herself in this world, she needed to mean business. There was no guarantee she'd ever make it home, and though the thought troubled her, learning to be a Pokémon would serve her well.

On the side of the stadium she was facing, a door opened. The crowd cheered seeing the entrance of the three opponents of Team Everlasting. For Alesia, that was a Honedge, who slowly observed her while getting closer before stopping when there was the right amount of space between them.

 _"3!"_

At the announcer's booming voice, it clicked with Alesia that she was likely about to get her rear handed to her.

 _"2!"_

But she could not afford to turn back now.

 _"1!"_

If she were to face a beatdown, it would be better than not trying at all.

"Fight!"

Being given the first turn in preparation for the match assisted with Alesia's confidence. Focusing directly on the Honedge while she did her best not to let her opponent's stoic stature and near-emotionless stare intimidate her, Alesia fired a straight line of radiant stars of energy. They hit Honedge one after the other rapidly… or rather, they passed straight through Honedge's form. Alesia opened her mouth to protest, but then her face fell in realization of her blunder.

'...Oh. That's right. No Normal-type moves against Ghost-types.'

Not only had Alesia wasted a turn, but now Honedge was able to unleash something.

Honedge drew too close for comfort and raised up high before swooping back down with a slash. Alesia felt a sharp swipe through her flesh as purple energy flashed, and she fell down in pain, crying out.

 _"10!"_

She realized something most peculiar. There wasn't a drop of blood. The side of her body that should by all accounts have been gushing out from the cut was still perfectly intact.

 _"7!"_

Alesia realized she had to get up soon if she didn't want to be considered the loser. The pain quickly subsided, owing to the lack of any actual injury, and she leapt back onto her feet. The announcer stopped counting, then Alesia took several paces back as she cursed the forces of the universe for making a good portion of her attacks useless against her opponent's type when she was the one who didn't have battling figured out quite as well as this world's average citizen.

...Wait. Wasn't Bite a Dark-type move?

Only one way to find out.

She sped across the field, then, when she was just the right distance from Honedge, she lunged with her mouth wide open. Finally, she clasped her teeth tightly around Honedge's hilt, causing a wave of energy to spread across the sword Pokémon's form, outward starting from where Alesia had bitten. The sensation of biting down onto something with such a hard surface was deeply uncomfortable to her, but at least she'd managed to avoid the sharp part.

Alesia finally let go and saw that Honedge was barely moving, tilted toward the floor, looking as if threatening to fall at any moment. Of course, this turned out to be wishful thinking on Alesia's part, because in spite of her power move, Honedge returned to an upright, assertive position, before rotating, hilt facing Alesia. Without warning, Honedge zipped through the air, the shape of a sword being quite suited for it thanks to aerodynamics, and hit Alesia. She was launched back several feet before she fell back to the ground.

She clenched her head in pain, dizzy from the blunt trauma. The world around her was warped and twisted beyond recognition, with distorted sounds and saturated colors… she wasn't sure how much sensory abuse she could take.

A deep voice seemed to call out to her. "Who… who is it?"

 _"3!"_

"Wh-what? No! You don't need to call off the match, I'm still in it!" She used every last ounce of willpower to force herself to get back up, and reoriented herself.

She evaluated the situation. As good as that Bite had worked, the Iron Head had been even better. She couldn't win if they kept doing that over and over. She needed something drastic.

She scratched at the ground with her front paws. "Come on, come on…" Desperately, she increased the effort. Her face lit up with delight as she felt her paws sinking into the ground. The hole she'd made in the ground became ever larger, much more so than she'd ever imagined possible for someone so untrained.

Gradually, she submerged her body further into the ground. The fact that digging was working so unbelievably well—indicating that she had, in fact, managed to unlock the elemental move known as Dig—instilled faith in her, and besides, this was a controlled environment. She'd be able to get help if stuck, even if that meant losing.

Further under the ground, she estimated where Honedge would be relative to her. She didn't know what, but something told her Honedge was directly above her. She changed direction until this mysterious signal in her brain registered as 'warm', and she leapt above the ground at top speed, making a new hole.

Honedge was launched a few feet into the air before landing. Alesia watched, pleased with herself for her haphazard idea working.

The announcer counted down, and reached only eight seconds before Honedge rose up once again, but this time, higher into the air.

Alesia looked up and gulped. She dashed a little to the side, but Honedge followed her. This was allowed to go on for a few seconds before Honedge slammed down to the earth. Alesia didn't have the speed to react in time and received the full force of the blow.

She did manage to get back up yet again before the announcer could end the match, but she was running low. She wobbled and staggered as she slowly approached Honedge. She attempted to run, but reached a much lower speed than her previous attempt to use this move. She honestly did put her all into it, but the Bite was more of a brief inconvenience to Honedge. Again, Alesia winced in pain from clamping her teeth down onto Honedge, and her weary condition didn't help.

There was a familiar flash of purple energy, and she felt that familiar slash down her body.

Alesia collapsed in a heap. She wanted to think she'd done a good job so far of withstanding the beatdowns, but too much was too much. It was clear she was fighting a losing battle, so she opted to just be kind to herself and shut her eyes. Feeling the pain, both of the sharp and blunt varieties, fade away was so much more pleasurable than going back up for more.

Her conviction, her pride, her determination, all forgotten, she allowed herself to drift away.


	22. Alesia Gained 0 Experience Points

Alesia clutched her temple in pain as she opened her eyes for the first time in Arceus knew how long. Greeted by a sweet, fruity scent for some reason, she found herself in a plain, undecorated room as she lay on a soft surface. Her vision was blurry, but as it cleared up, the abstract figures overlooking her turned out to be Riolu, Popplio, and a Mr. Mime.

"Hey," Popplio urged gently. "Are you okay, Alesia?"

"I don't know…" she complained. "I have the worst headache… anything else?"

"No," Mr. Mime said, giving her the Oran Berry he had been holding under her nose.

"Really?" Alesia sounded surprised. She accepted the berry and bit into it, before finishing it off. Almost immediately, her energy returned. "But that Honedge beat me up hard. Not a single broken bone?"

Mr. Mime seemed confused. "Why would you have any broken bones? You're only allowed to use elemental attacks in the Tournament."

"...As in moves that have types?"

"That's correct." Mr. Mime nodded. "Those can't give you any injuries, only deplete your Health Points."

"Um, these Health Points. Are they a separate thing from your overall physical health and well-being?" Alesia questioned.

"...Yes," Mr. Mime affirmed. "Health Points are connected to your aura. Honestly, I thought you knew that."

"...Yeah. I guess you did." Alesia realized now was the time to stop acting suspicious regarding her lack of knowledge of this strange Pokémon-inhabited world. "Thanks for everything. Am I okay to go now?"

"Absolutely." Mr. Mime gestured at the door.

Alesia got down from the chair, which had been adjusted to a low height for her, and she left with Riolu and Popplio in tow.

"Sorry I let you guys down," she apologized as they traveled through the corridors.

"Eh, it's not that bad," Riolu responded. "Popplio and I both won so now we're through to the next round!"

' _Oh, joy.'_ "...Well, fine then," Alesia said in a dull tone, unable to summon enthusiasm where there was none. "It hurt like hell the first time, but I'm still alive. I guess I can do it again." Wanting to get away from the subject, she asked, "What exactly is aura?"

"Aura is an energy that all Pokémon innately possess," Riolu explained.

"Is it kind of like a soul?"

"Well, no. It's determined by your species. Every species has its own list of potential moves. So that means all the moves you can or can't learn, Alesia, coincide exactly with the moves which that Eevee in the audience can learn." Now that they were standing directly in front of the doorway, he pointed at the seating area of the stadium. He doubted Alesia could see which Eevee he meant, but that wasn't necessary for him to get his point across. "But where your aura differs from theirs is that there's an upper limit to how strong you can ever become, and that varies from member to member of the species."

"I guess I got a good one then," Alesia remarked. "Knowing Dig. That'd be useful in just about any situation. I mean, if the floor isn't metal or some similarly solid material."

"You can use that?" Popplio asked in surprise. "We've never seen you do that before."

"That's because I haven't," Alesia explained rather simply. "And I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it again without training. In that battle, it was really more of a survival instinct thing… or maybe my aura going haywire? Almost like it's not mine."

"If you're actually a human, that's probably the reason," Popplio suggested. "Humans probably didn't have auras since there aren't any records of them using elemental moves like us Pokémon do."

"Whatever you say… wanna go and join the others while we wait for our next battle to start?" Alesia pointed at the staircase leading up to the seats.

"Sure!" Riolu and Popplio both went up the stairs with Alesia following them. The trio scanned the area until they found the residents of the village grouped together. The brown-feathered Braviary twin was first to notice them, and motioned for them to come over.

Popplio eagerly hopped onto the seat directly next to him, but there was a pained squawking noise from beneath him as he felt himself plant onto something that did not feel flat enough to be the base of a seat. He got up to find the Toucannon of the village was already there, unnoticed due to his small stature.

"Oops. Sorry, little fella," Popplio apologized.

"...Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Toucannon warned him warily as Riolu held back snickers.

Once each member of the trio had his or her own seat, they were spoken to. "Nice job winning," Gallade congratulated them warmly. While Riolu and Popplio nodded pridefully, Alesia hung her head. While it was technically true that the team had won, as two out of three members beating their opponents meant they got through to the next round, not having contributed to it made Alesia feel as though the praise was undeserved, compounded by the idea of having to endure a beatdown again and again without anyone to help her.

Alesia nervously waited, trying her best to savor the minutes of freedom she had left before she would be sent back into the battlefield.

After briefly being trapped in her own thoughts, she turned her attention to her companions. Popplio had a pair of binoculars. "I'd give her a six," he commented, then took the binoculars down from his face and gave them to Riolu. "What do you think?"

Riolu's face lit up with glee. "Eight. Definitely at least an eight for that Lopunny."

"What are you doing?" Alesia asked, taking note of the paper Popplio was writing things on. It appeared to have several Pokémon names, each with a number between 3 and 10. Was it some sort of rating?

Popplio was about to explain, but Riolu tapped him. "Remember not to tell," he quietly reminded.

"You mean that we're watching girls and giving them ratings?" Popplio asked loudly.

"What?!" Alesia snapped. "That is DISGUSTING!" She grabbed the binoculars from Riolu's grasp. "I'm going back to our room."

Appalled by the actions of the two teenage boys, she stormed down the stairs and walked next to the wall of the stadium, then threw aside the binoculars, which were, as far as she was concerned, tainted with perversion. She entered the doorway leading to the rooms.

She recoiled when she stepped in something cold and wet. She looked down to find a deep green liquid that had stained her front left paw and was trickling out from underneath one of the doors.

Wanting to vent her grievances, she knocked on the door. But there was no answer.

"Hello?" she called. "Whatever you're doing in there, please be more careful with it."

There still wasn't a response, one of agreement or otherwise. She groaned and then began to walk in an awkward fashion, with the stained paw not touching the ground. She was heading back to the bathing room, intending to wash her paw clean of the green dye, not to mention complain to an employee about the situation.


End file.
